By Michael Lieberman: WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (36-2, 29 KO’s) had a so-so performance last Saturday night in beating 38-year-old former two-division world champion Ricardo Mayorga (29-8-1, 23 KO’s) in a 12th round stoppage at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. The fight was fairly competitive with Mayorga landing a lot of hard combinations and appearing to win at least three rounds.

In the 12th, Mayorga seemed to hurt his left hand during the same exchange in which he was dropped by a left hook from Coto. The action resumed but Mayorga let the referee Robert Byrd know that his left hand was too hurt for him to continue fighting. Byrd then stopped the fight at 0:53 of the 12th.

With this win, Cotto will now set his sights on a rematch with Antonio Margarito (38-7, 27 KO’s), a fighter who battered and stopped Cotto three years ago in an 11th round TKO in July 2008. Cotto’s face looked unrecognizable by the end of the fight with both eyes bleed, as well as his nose and a badly swollen face. Cotto looked scary looking and some boxing fans feel that he hasn’t been the same ever since. It’s hard to argue with that belief because Cotto has struggled against good opposition, losing to Manny Pacquiao by a 12th round TKO in November 2009, barely beating Joshua Clottey by a questionable 12 round split decision in June 2009, defeating an injured weak-punching Yuri Foreman and then struggling to beat 38-year-old Mayorga last night. Other than the Pacquiao fight, Cotto has been selectively matched and not put on with guys like Alfredo Angulo, Erislandy Lara, Paul Williams and Kermit Cintron. He’s being matched against guys he can beat right now.

Margarito hasn’t looked good himself, losing two out of his last three fights. He was badly beaten by Pacquiao last November in a 12 round decision. Margarito suffered a fractured orbital bone in that fight but has since had surgery to fix the problem. He also doesn’t look like the same fighter he once was. A fight between him and Cotto should be interesting because Cotto wants revenge and Margarito wants to prove that his win over Cotto wasn’t a fluke. Based on how Cotto looked last night against Mayorga, a fight against Margarito has to be considered a toss up. Cotto might be able to win it by hitting and running all night long, but if he stands and trades with Margarito, he won’t last long.