By Dan Ambrose: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum has already said that the winner of tonight’s fight between WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (35-2, 28 KO’s) and challenger Ricardo Mayorga (29-7-1, 23 KO’s) may get a shot against his cash cow Manny Pacquiao in the near future. But will Arum actually allow Pacquiao to fight Mayroga, a non-Top Rank fighter? I have my doubts. I think it makes for a good soundbite Arum talking about possibly matching Mayorga up with Pacquiao if he beats Cotto, but I just can’t see that happening.

Arum is more likely to go ahead and put Cotto in with Pacquiao early 2012, even if Cotto gets beaten up by both Mayorga and Antonio Margarito when he fights the Mexican in the summer. Margarito and Cotto are fighters in his stable, whereas Mayorga fights for Don King. I think it’s highly unlikely that Mayorga will get the call to fight Pacquiao, especially if he completely takes apart Cotto tonight.

You have to remember Cotto has taken a lot of head shots in his fights against Margarito, Joshua Clottey and Pacquiao in the last three years, and those fights have taken a lot of steam out of Cotto’s engine. Some people think he’s a shot fighter, and I don’t that. He’s still effective against certain fighters that aren’t much of a threat to him because of their lack of offensive skills. Yuri Foreman would fall in that category. However, Mayorga can still punch and at least on offense, he’s just as dangerous as Pacquiao and Margarito when he’s not tired.