By Dan Ambrose: We just saw how WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (35-2, 28 KO’s) was dominated by challenger Ricardo Mayorga (29-7-1, 23 KO’s) in their press conferences together. It got so bad that Cotto wouldn’t even stand and look Mayorga in the eyes for the traditional face-off photo sessions. That’s really bad. Mayorga in turn sees this as a sign of cowardice, and says he’s going to knock Cotto out. He offered a rose at their last press conference, treating him with contempt.

Cotto abruptly left the press conference with Mayorga still gleefully badgering him. That was really bad to see. Tonight, you have to wonder whether Mayorga will be able to dominate Cotto in the ring the same way that he did in their press conferences. They say that fights are often won before the two fighters even step in the ring. We may discover that’s true if Cotto continues to shy away from facing up to Mayorga.

Cotto is going to have Mayorga all over him tonight, taking shots from every angle and he’s going to have to deal with that. Will Cotto quit and take a couple of knees when the going got tough in his fight with Antonio Margarito or will Cotto decide to run all night long like he did against Manny Pacquiao in his 12th round TKO loss in November 2009. We may see Mayorga continuing his domination of Cotto in the ring unless Cotto can figure out a way to battle the bigger Mayorga and not flee. Running won’t help. Cotto has got to stand and fight. Mayorga cuts off the ring well, and if Cotto decides to run like he did against Pacquiao, he’ll only be making things harder for himself later on when he finally is forced to fight.