If Cotto beats Mayweather it’s going to be huge for boxing

By Boxing News - 02/08/2012 - Comments

Image: If Cotto beats Mayweather it's going to be huge for boxingBy Allan Fox: WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (37-2, 30 KO’s) defends his title on May 5th against Floyd Mayweather Jr. (42-0, 26 KO’s) in a fight where most boxing fans figure that Mayweather should come out on top in a rather decisive manner. However, a win for Cotto will not only be big thing for his career but a huge thing for the sport of boxing as well. Mayweather will be out of the picture permanently for Pacquiao and we can forget the nonsense about hype behind the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight.

We can’t really be so certain about that because Cotto is the best offensive fighter that Mayweather has faced in many years. I know he beat Juan Manuel Marquez in 2009, but Marquez didn’t have the size, power or jab that Cotto has. Mayweather Jr. is really going to be up against it in this fight and we could very well see a win for Cotto if Mayweather has slipped a notch. Even if he hasn’t slipped a notch, Cotto could break him down with his harder shots and bigger physique to hand him his first loss of his career.

The fights that Cotto has lost in the past were against big punchers like Manny Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito. What made those two fighters even more dangerous for Cotto was the fact that they could not only punch hard but they also threw a great deal of punches.

Pacquiao and Margarito averaged over 80 punches per round and that right there is what ultimately led to Cotto losing those fights. Mayweather can’t throw a lot of punches. I know what it is but he’s always been a fighter that throws few shots and is capable of being outworked.

Mayweather Jr. doesn’t have Cotto’s power and that will be a problem for Mayweather Jr. unless he can stay on the move and avoid to get hit. I don’t think he can. Cotto will catch up to him sooner or later unless Mayweather can return to the time of his youth when he was able to hit and run all night long.



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