By Dan Ambrose: Former trainer Emanuel Steward believes WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (37-2, 30 KO’s) is going to need a superb strategy to get him by Floyd Mayweather Jr. (42-0, 26 KO’s) next month in their fight in Las Vegas, Nevada. Steward didn’t like what he saw of Cotto in his last fight against Antonio Margarito where late in the fight it appeared that Cotto was falling into the same pattern as he had in the first fight in 2008.
Steward said to eastsideboxing.com’s On the Ropes Boxing Radio “Cotto’s going to have to have a definite solid plan because Floyd Mayweather Junior is one of the best all around boxers I ever saw…One of the keys is a good jab…He cannot be fighting with his head down too far, and his elbows out, and his feet spread apart while he’s trying to bob and weave.”
Steward went on to say that it looks like Cotto fallen back into his old pattern of fighting before he was trained by Steward, and he feels this will be a huge mistake for him against Mayweather. Steward thinks Mayweather will really take advantage of Cotto if he fights this way, although doesn’t say what specifically Mayweather would be doing to take advantage of Cotto. Steward’s worried about Cotto’s skin and thinks he may bust up easily once he starts getting hit a lot by Mayweather.
Steward is right. Cotto does seem to bust up easy when he faces good opposition. He’s had a bit of a break between quality opposition, however, as his old promoter Bob Arum put Cotto on the easy track against beat fighters or old guys past three years and it’s enabled Cotto to start winning again. Now Cotto is back in with quality opposition and without Steward. It seems pretty obvious that Cotto is going to get totally decimated against Mayweather.
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