By Gerardo Granados: The reigning WBA super world light middleweight champion Miguel Angel Cotto (age 30 / 5´7” height – 67” reach / T38 – W36(29) – L2(2) – D0), defeated veteran Ricardo Mayorga former WBC – WBA Super World welterweight and WBC light middleweight champion but failed to impress boxing fans by allowing Mayorga to survive until the last round of their fight; giving the impresion to lack of enough power to finish of an aging former champion.

Cotto has won his only two fights at the light middleweight division by TKO but this might be a little bogus, he defeated the reigning champion Yuri Foreman (age 30 / 5´11” height – 72” reach / T31 – W28(8) – L2(2) – D0) who has little power on his fists, due a leg injury that forced Foreman to retire after puting a great effort in a great battle in which he showed great heart and determination fighting more than one round on one single leg. Cotto was not able to knock out Foreman before he injured his leg and he looked a bit small compared to Yuri´s body frame.

Against veteran Ricardo Mayorga (age 38 / 5´9” height – 69” reach / T39 – W29(23) – L8(5) – D1), who only resembles the empty shell of what he used to be in his prime, struggled in a couple of rounds that he lost to the wild Mayorga. Cotto conected clean shots at the body and head of Mayorga a lot of times during his fight but it seems like he was not hurting badly his rival as he used to do at the welterweight or light welterweight division. It is true that Cotto managed to dominate Mayorga for most of the fight but his shots were just not as powerfull as they used to be.

At light welterweight and welterweight divisions Cotto looked dominant and powerfull, he had great speed and power to go along with his great boxing skills and fine techniques, he was able to wobble rivals with one single punch, but not now at light middleweight.

In his fight against Antonio Margarito (for the WBA welterweight title) he looked a bit small compared to the 5´11” Margarito, Miguel Angel hit Antonio with very hard shots to the body and head during their fight but Margarito keep coming after him swallowing the power punches of Cotto, it was like Cotto did not had enough power to deal with bigger guys like Margarito.

I believe Cotto has lost speed moving up to light middleweight, he keeps his great boxing techniques and most of his skills are just as good as when he campaigned at light welterweight, but his power might not be enough to face big or natural light middleweights as Alfredo Angulo, Ryan Rhodes and Paul Williams just to mention a few.

If Mayorga was able to trade with Cotto and resist most of the power punches that Cotto landed, just as Margarito and Foreman did, could it mean that Cotto will struggle against big light middleweights in the near future? Cotto is only 5´7” and gives a lot advantage in size, height and reach, he might be able to outbox many of the top light middleweights but his lack of power might end up leading to defeat if he engage against power hitters in his weight division.

Time will tell if Cotto did a right decision by moving up to light middleweight but I believe he has no business against top middleweights such as Martinez, Pirog or any other top fighter in that division.