By Eric Thomas: If WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (35-2, 28 KO’s) can get by his next fight against former two division world champion 37-year-old Ricard Mayorga (29-7-1, 23 KO’s), Cotto will be facing Antonio Margarito in a rematch during the Summer months. Cotto, 30, was beaten up badly and stopped by Margarito two years ago in 2008. It was like watching Cotto get ripped part by Manny Pacquiao. Cotto was forced to run all fight long to avoid Margarito’s heavy hands, but in the 10 round, Margarito was finally able to catch up to a tired Cotto and hurt him with some big uppercuts near the end of the round.

Cotto was able to escape the round without getting knocked out, but in the 11th round, Cotto, now bleeding badly from both eyes and nose, took a coupe of knees and the fight was stopped. Cotto has won three out of his last fought fights since then, beating Michael Jennings, Joshua Clottey and Yuri Foreman, while losing to Pacquiao by a 12th round knockout. Cotto looks even more vulnerable now than he did before, and it’s possible that Margarito will be able to knock him out again if Margarito has anything left after being badly beaten by Pacquiao recently in a one-sided 12 round decision loss.

However, Cotto may not even get tot he Margarito fight if he’s taken apart by Mayorga. I’m sure Arum might go through with putting Cotto in with Margarito anyway regardless of whether Cotto beats Mayorga or not, but the fan interest will be much less at that point and it probably wouldn’t be the smartest move Arum could make. But Arum has not hesitated in matching his top fighters against other following terrible beatings in the past, so he”ll still likely throw Cotto in with Margarito even if Cotto gets torn apart by Mayorga.

The thing about Cotto is that he’s so hittable and he doesn’t look good when he gets hit. He starts to swell up and then bleed and then he kind of falls apart. Mayorga, now slower and heavier compared to his prime form seven years ago, has lost four out of his last eight fights. He can still punch, especially in the early rounds, and if he can connect with enough looping shots in the first half of the fight against Cotto, he could beat him. Mayorga is taller than Cotto by two inches at 5’9″, and is very tough for six to eight rounds. He then tired quickly after that.

Cotto may have big problems against Mayorga during that part of the fight and he could end up getting knocked out if he’s not too careful. He’s not going to beat Mayorga by jabbing. Cotto is going to have to fight him and that’s where the unknown comes in. Mayorga is a much better fighter than Yuri Foreman, and we saw Foreman connecting well until injuring his right leg in the 7th. If Mayorga is allowed to make it that far into the fight, Cotto is going to be in trouble and may lose.