By Dan Ambrose: Floyd Mayweather Jr. (42-0, 26 KO’s) sees his experience and ring intelligence being the keys to victory for him on Saturday night against WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (37-2, 30 KO’s) when Mayweather moves up in weight to try and capture the 154 pound title at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Mayweather said to the Miamiherald.com “I am too smart, experienced and determined to let anyone beat me.”‘
Mayweather is correct about him being very intelligent in the ring. He seems to know exactly what to do at any given moment in the ring, and that makes it really tough for his opponents.
Cotto seems to have a high ring IQ as well. However, where he has problems is with taking punishment and in the stamina department. Cotto swells up something fierce when he starts getting hit, and he’s often cut in his fights when facing quality opposition. But his stamina is one of his clear weaknesses, because Cotto isn’t the same fighter in the last four rounds of his fights as he is in the first part.
He tends to wear down late and is vulnerable. We saw that in his loss to Antonio Margarito, his close wins over Joshua Clottey and Shane Mosley, as well as his defeat against Manny Pacquiao. We also saw how Cotto was wearing down in his last fight against Margarito last December in the 9th. To Cotto’s great luck, the ringside doctor stepped in and stopped the fight after the 9th because of Margarito’s swollen shut right eye. Had the fight been allowed to continue for one or two more rounds, we likely wouldn’t be talking about the Mayweather-Cotto fight for Saturday.
More than likely, Mayweather will clown Cotto by boxing circles around him and picking him apart with shots while Cotto misses again and again. This fight has mismatch written all over it. Cotto hasn’t fought anyone good in three years, and now he’s going into the fight with a relatively new trainer. This is not good for Cotto.
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