By Noel Portela: This Saturday on May 5th 2012, the boxing world will be celebrating Cinco de Mayo once again with what might be the most anticipated boxing card of this year so far. One of boxing’s biggest icons and the fighter many regard as the number one pound for pound fighter in the world, Floyd “Money” Mayweather Junior (42-0, 26 KO’s), will be getting back in the squared circle to do battle with fellow boxing icon, Miguel Angel Cotto (37-2, 30 KO’s) for Cotto’s WBA Junior Middleweight Title of the World in what many believe to be an already decided battle.
I’m not a so called “expert” like many authors pretend to be or believe themselves as. I’m just a big boxing fan who doesn’t feed into the hype that this fight is an opened and closed case as the “experts” would like for you to believe it is. I believe Cotto is going to give Floyd more problems than most are already predicting.
One of the reasons Miguel Cotto is being written off already is his handspeed. Boxing fans seems to be extremists in the sense that if a fighter isn’t all the way on the positive end of the spectrum in a certain aspect of his game, then the fighter must be on the opposite far end of same said spectrum. Example, since Cotto doesn’t have the fastest hands, he must have the slowest. This is an absurd way of thinking.
Time and time again, Cotto has shown that not only does he have quick hands, he also has the ability to get the timing down for his opponent’s handspeed and adjust to able to land his own punches. Malignaggi, Judah and Mosley were favorite’s in their respective outings with the Puerto Rican in that aspect of the fight game and each time Cotto rose to the occasion and was able to match, if not best them, with his own speed and unique ability to time their punches to land his own. While Miguel Cotto doesn’t have faster hands than Floyd Mayweather, his quick, crisp punching coupled with his sense of timing will undoubtedly surprise his opponent and fans alike, again.
Miguel Cotto has always shown in his fights that not only is he a strong puncher and aggressive pressure fighter, he is also very proficient with his combinations, knows how to change levels with his combinations and is an underrated counter puncher. Rarely does Cotto throws punches for the sake of throwing them and hoping that they land. Also rarely is the Puerto Rican simply content to throwing one punch at a time as most fighters of this era seem to be. Miguel Cotto has earned a loyal fan base from boxing fans for his efficient but exciting style and his “will win” ring attitude.
This will not be an Ortiz performance where we saw the inexperienced boxer forgo an important tool against Floyd, the jab, in favor of wild swings in which the Mexican slugger himself smothered further making the punches ineffective. Nor will this be anything like the Mosley performance against the undefeated pound for pound king where he found big success in the 2nd round by changing levels with his punches to only smother his own punches as well, then letting his opponent off the hook by forgoing what he initially had success with. Cotto’s excellent jab, constant pressure and effective combinations on the inside will play a major role for him in the fight.
Miguel Cotto has some issues of concern going into this fight. He has shown stamina problems against fighters who apply constant pressure. Given how Floyd fights at a slow, steady pace without much lateral movement and prefers his opponents to lead, I don’t see stamina problems becoming much of a factor. The other issue is how Cotto’s face can be cut fairly easily ever since his first loss to a fighter using “questionable wraps” which has led people to believe that Floyd can get a stoppage on cuts. I am very confident that a fight of this caliber will not come to an end due to cuts.
Floyd Mayweather poses many problems for whoever is across the ring from him when the first round bell rings. He has very fast hands in which he uses to capitalize on his opponents mistakes and defensive liabilities in an era where most fighters have forgone their responsibilities to learn the defensive side of their craft in favor of the offensive(outside of the illegal uses of clinching as a form of “defense”). His “Philly Shell” defense seems to demands that his opponent uses a consistent jab to get to the fighter and strong pressure to overwhelm the style while at the same time not smothering the offense’s own punches, to have any success. Floyd also has the ability to slow the pace of the fight which favors his “pot shots” and also prevents him from becoming overwhelmed.
Come this Saturday, Floyd Mayweather for the second time will be fighting in the Junior Middleweight division, this time against WBA Champion Miguel Cotto. Whether you are with the majority in thinking Floyd Mayweather will earn another unanimous decision in this fight or with the minority in hoping that Miguel Cotto can pull the big upset, there is one thing boxing fans from both sides can expect in this fight. Miguel Cotto will be there Saturday to give the fans another honest performance, laying everything on the line for the win, to test Floyd Mayweather’s mettle and legitimacy as pound for pound king. Give him hell Miguel.
*Leave comments below and let me know whether you agree or disagree. The fans perspective has always been more on point and valuable than the “experts” in my opinion.
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