By Dan Ambrose: WBA junior middleweight champion Miquel Cotto has reportedly said that he’s more confident now that he has a new trainer in Pedro Diaz, who helped him get revenge against Antonio Margarito last December in their long awaited rematch. Cotto says he’s got back all the things that Margarito took from him in terms of taking away his self belief after giving Cotto a terrible beating in 2008.

Cotto, however, is facing Floyd Mayweather Jr. on May 5th, and it may take more than just confidence alone to win that fight. Boxing has always had guys with sky high confidence going into big fights, yet they were still soundly beaten. Confidence is just a starting point.

It’s an elementary beginning stage for a fighter going into a bout, but you got to have more than that. Even if Cotto really believes that he can beat Mayweather, and I have my doubts whether Cotto’s so-called confidence is genuine, he’s still going to have to possess the talent to win or else he’s going to get smacked around by Floyd. A fighter with more talent and less confidence and can still easily win the fight just by doing what comes natural. As long as Mayweather doesn’t run away and not throw punches, his talent will likely be more than enough for him to come out on top against Cotto on May 5th.

Cotto said this as quoted by RingTV “I have everything back that was taken from me during Margarito’s victory. Things that he stole from me, and things that he grabbed for myself, you know? I have it all back, and I feel much, much better right now.”

How does Cotto really know he has those things back when he’s not faced anyone good in two years since getting taken out by Manny Pacquiao in 2009. Cotto has faced the following fighters since the Pacquiao fight: Ricardo Mayorga, Yuri Foreman and Margarito. Mayorga was 38, and past his prime. Foreman, the WBA paper champion and one of Bob Arum’s Top Rank stable fighters, came into the fight with a knee that was previously torn up and in need of surgery. It went out on him in the 7th round.

Margarito came into the Cotto rematch following a year layoff and three separate eye surgeries. Even with all those problems, he looked to be on the verge of repeating his knockout performance from 2008 by perhaps getting to Cotto in the later rounds. Unfortunately the ringside doctor stopped the fight before Margarito could repeat the job.