By Dan Ambrose: Since Miguel Cotto (36-2, 29 KO’s) moved up to the junior middleweight division last year in June, Cotto has faced two less than dangerous fighters in WBA junior middleweight champion Yuri Foreman and 38-year-old Ricardo Mayorga. Cotto won those fights and some boxing fans are under the impression that Cotto is back, and that he’s a changed fighter after suffering bad beatings in defeats to Antonio Margarito and Manny Pacquiao. How people can think that based on Cotto’s less than impressive opposition in his last two fights is beyond me.

If Cotto had faced guys like Alfredo Angulo, Paul Williams, Sergio Martinez, James Kirkland or Erislandy Lara, and beat them, then I could see Cotto as having improved. But it looks like his promoter Bob Arum has merely put Cotto in with two guys that he knew he could beat with the weak punching Foreman, who was recently exposed Pawel Wolak, and a faded Mayorga. This isn’t Lara or Angulo Cotto was facing. Now Cotto is looking to fight Margarito in a fight that’s really about three years too late.

Margarito doesn’t appear to be the same fighter that beat Cotto in 2008 by an 11th round TKO. Margarito is slower now, bigger and his knockout power doesn’t seem to be nearly as impressive as it was back them. Strangely enough, the last time Margarito knocked out anybody was three years ago in the Cotto fight. Margarito has fought three times since then, losing two of them to Shane Mosley and Manny Pacquiao while beating an obscure fighter by the name of Roberto Garcia.

The fight with Margarito is too late for Cotto and it looks more like an old timers fight now instead of bout between an opponent that is worthy of fighting for a title. I expect Cotto to win that fight, but it won’t be saying much because Margarito isn’t the same fighter. But I’m wondering if Cotto will continue to be put in against fighters along the same lines as Foreman, Mayorga and Margarito until he gets a rematch with Pacquiao. My guess is Cotto won’t ever fight Angulo, Kirkland, Williams or Sergio Martinez. Instead, we’ll see Cotto vs. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and then a rematch with Pacquiao. At that point, Cotto will probably retire or maybe fight a rematch with Shane Mosley, and then retire.