By Chris Williams: World Boxing Association (WBA) junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (35-2, 28 KO’s) could be facing former two division world champion Ricardo Mayorga (29-7-1, 23 KO’s) next, according to the latest boxing news. Mayorga, now 37-years-old and noticeably fat around the midsection, is one of three possible opponents that are being considered for Cotto’s next fight next year. The other fighters under consideration are Vanes Matirosyan and Pawel Wolak. The fight will likely take place at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Mayorga would give Cotto a named fighter for him to take on and thus sell a few tickets. Cotto’s expected to be matched lightly because he’s coming off of shoulder surgery and hasn’t fought since June of this year when he stopped the injured Yuri Foreman in the 9th round after Foreman further injured his his right leg. Cotto looked good in the early going in the bout, but Foreman began to really tee off on Cotto and it looked like Cotto was going to get knocked out again when Foreman hurt his leg in the 7th. Cotto then battered Foreman as he was unable to fight without limping badly. It was good that Cotto got the stoppage but bad in how much trouble he was having with Foreman at the time that he got injured.

Mayorga stopped Michael Walker in the 9th round on December 17th. Mayorga looked good at times in the fight, especially in the first two rounds. He seemed to tire after that and got hit a lot when coming forward trying to throw body shots. However, Mayorga’s whole style of fighting is really reckless and because of that he tends to get hit a lot. He got hit with some really huge left hooks in the 6th and 7th rounds of this fight. But he just kept coming with hard body shots and head shots that gave Walker problems. In the 9th, Mayorga dropped Walker with a flurry of punches in the corner. Walker didn’t look like he wanted to continue fighting, but the referee let it go on anyway. Mayorga than landed one big right uppercut and then landed a series of hard shots that led to the referee stopping the fight.

A fight between Cotto and Mayorga might be a much closer fight than people think. Cotto looks nothing like the same fighter he once was, and when he gets hit a lot, he puffs up and starts to bleed. He didn’t look at all good when taking shots in the Joshua Clottey and Foreman fights. He looked like he was getting ready to quit in the Clottey fight at one point. Mayorga may be fat and old, but he still is dangerous on offense if he can stay on his feet for eight or nine rounds, he could beat up Cotto enough to get him to start running and eventually quit. Mayorga has the offensive firepower to do exactly what Antonio Margarito did to Cotto and then some.

For that reason, I don’t see Mayorga getting the fight with Cotto. I think Bob Arum won’t want to risk Cotto getting beaten up and stopped by Mayorga before he cashes out with another fight against Manny Pacquiao and Margarito. Mayorga could wreck Cotto’s world with his power, unorthodox fighting style and his constant pressure. I see Cotto being matched against the much less dangerous Wolak. That’s who I see Cotto being fed, and I bet I’m right.

I don’t think Cotto is good enough to beat guys like Mayorga anymore. Heck, he may never have been good enough to beat someone like him. We don’t know how good Cotto is because he barely beat Shane Mosley years ago, got destroyed by Margarito and Pacquiao, and looked to be on the verge of quitting against Clottey. It may be that Cotto has been overrated all these years.