By Chris Williams: Former Miguel Cotto victim Paulie Malignaggi believes that Cotto is going to be a very risky fight for Floyd Mayweather Jr. tonight when the two fighters go at it in the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
According to examiner.com, Malignaggi believes that if the fight goes to decision, Mayweather will win it, and if there’s going to be a knockout, Cotto will be the one to get it.
Malignaggi said this to examiner.com about Cotto: “He’s more than just a puncher. He’s a guy that does a lot of things well. He’s very good at disrupting your rhythm, your timing, breaking up concentration.”
Malignaggi took a beating at the hands of Cotto, suffering a broken orbital bone in losing by a 12 round unanimous decision. To Malignaggi’s credit, he lasted the entire fight in losing a 12 round decision. However, the loss came at a cost with Malignaggi taking a lot of one-way punishment in a fight that should have been stopped.
Malignaggi thinks that if Mayweather can get past Cotto, he’ll be virtually unstoppable. He doesn’t see anyone getting in the way of Mayweather after this fight, and he’s probably right. The only competition for Mayweather other than Cotto is Manny Pacquiao, but that fight can’t happen unless Pacquiao agrees to the $40 million offer that Mayweather gave him. Pacquiao wants a 50-50 deal, however, and that would come out to be a lot more than $40 million, and Mayweather doesn’t think he’s worth it.
Cotto is going to lose tonight, and I don’t agree with Malignaggi about it being by a decision. It’s going to be by a knockout, and there’s not much Cotto can do about it other than choosing to run to keep away from Mayweather when he starts getting punished early on tonight. Cotto will have to go into the survival mode to make it the full 12 rounds. Will he do that? Probably not. Cotto will try to win and will pay for it by getting viciously knocked out.
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