By Dan Ambrose: In many of Miguel Cotto’s fights in the past three years, his face has taken a lot of punishment in terms of getting hit, cut up and ending up swollen to grotesque proportions. Part of the problem is Cotto’s lack of defense. He gets hit far too much for his own good. But the other problem just seems to be with his skin on his face. His skin, because of the scar tissue around his eyes, tears easily, and his face has a nasty habit of swelling up quickly and easily when hit. On March 12th, Cotto will be facing Ricardo Mayorga (29-7-1, 23 KO’s) at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The fight is a pay-per-view bout, which is why Mayorga, a fighter well known to casual boxing fans, has been chosen rather than a soft touch for Cotto to fight and get back in the swing of things following shoulder surgery last year. This is a fight that could end up very badly for Cotto, because Mayorga is bigger than him, with excellent power and a habit of throwing punches from odd angles. Mayorga hits hard enough to tear up Cotto’s face in the same way that Manny Pacquiao, Antonio Margarito and Joshua Clottey, to name just a few, were able to do with Cotto in the past.

The thing is Cotto doesn’t fight well when cut and is susceptible to being stopped. Depending on how badly Cotto’s face is ripped open by Mayorga, we could see another Margarito-esque ending for Cotto where he takes a couple of knees to escape the beating he’s taking in there.