By John F. McKenna (McJack): In case you haven’t already noticed, undefeated superstar WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (42-0, 26 KO’s) thus far has not began to trash talk his May 5 opponent World Boxing Association (WBA) light middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (37-2, 30 KO’s). Floyd is known for trash talking almost all of his opponents. It is part of his bad boy persona and something that his hard core fans have come to expect from him.
So what gives? Why would “Money” Mayweather suddenly deviate from the norm for this one fight against Miguel Cotto? Cotto is a very good fighter. There can be no question about that. The ghost of Antonio Margarito has been haunting Miguel since the beat down he suffered at his hands back in July 2008.
To some extent the ghost of Margarito has been expunged from Miguel’s memory. Cotto acknowledged after he came back and TKO’d Antonio in ten rounds that the loss in 2008 had robbed him of his confidence. Up to that point the Puerto Rican warrior was undefeated. Cotto gradually fought his way back and won the WBA light middleweight title, but he did not begin to regain his confidence until he came back to stop Margarito.
It must be kept in mind however that the Margarito that Cotto defeated in December was not the same fighter he faced in July of 2008. Since that fight Margarito was totally outclassed by Shane Mosley who scored a 9th round TKO over Antonio. In November 2010 Margarito was literally taken apart by the Filipino dynamo Manny Pacquiao. In that fight Antonio suffered a fractured orbital bone in his right eye. The damaged eye required surgery and it was questionable if he would be permitted to fight again.
Once Margarito received the go ahead to fight, Miguel Cotto was able to exact revenge on the opponent he claimed was using illegal hand wraps in their first match. Cotto was able to prepare for Antonio and he successfully targeted his surgically repaired eye. Once the eye showed signs of damage ringside physicians were forced to intervene and stop the fight.
Fighting Floyd Mayweather, however is a horse of a different color and not remotely close to engaging a fighter such as Anonio Margarito who is clearly damaged goods. Mayweather is an elite fighter and quite possible the greatest fighter of this era.
In addition to “Money” Mayweather’s superb boxing skills, he is equally adept at promoting himself and his fights. His fight with Oscar De La Hoya in 2007 did 2.4 million in Pay Per View (PPV) buys, which is still an all time record.
Floyd knows when to back off when hyping a future opponent in Cotto who is clearly overmatched no matter what the hype machine puts out there. Ironically Miguel is seen by some as one of Manny Pacquiao’s leftovers.
The irony is that Mayweatehr’s fans have routinely accused Manny of fighting Floyd’s leftovers. The bottom line in boxing as in any business is how much money will the fight bring in it at the turnstiles and more importantly how many PPV buys will it generate? That is why Pacquiao fought Shane Mosley in May 2011. Mosley, although his skills were greatly diminished was still a household name. That is also why Floyd elected to fight Cotto on May 5 in lieu of fighting Manny. Other than Pacquiao, Miguel is the biggest name fighter Mayweather could take on. Cotto also has a huge base in the Puerto Rican community.
So why would Floyd demean a fighter like Cotto who he wants fans to believe has a chance of defeating him? Do the math. It’s not hard to fathom.
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