Is Trout now too dangerous for Mayweather?

By Boxing News - 12/03/2012 - Comments

Image: Is Trout now too dangerous for Mayweather?By John F. McKenna (McJack): With his impressive 12 round unanimous decision over Miguel Cotto (37-4, 30 KO’s) it is quite possible that undefeated Austin Trout (26-0, 14 KO’s) has eliminated himself from consideration of being a future opponent for WBA light middleweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (43-0, 26 KO’s). Trout decisively defeated the popular Cotto on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Ringside officials scored the fight 119-110, 119-108, 119-108 in Trout’s favor.

Despite what “Money May” says publicly, Trout may now be deemed as being too dangerous and too much of a risk for the #1 ranked pound for pound boxer in the world. It is thought by many boxing pundits that Mayweather has been avoiding Filipino icon Manny Pacquiao (54-4-1, 38 KO’s) for years for the same reason, the “Pacman” is just too dangerous an opponent.

The reasoning goes that Floyd does not want to risk losing his much ballyhooed “0” by taking on a fighter who is perceived to be too much of a risk. It was Mayweather himself who said after his win over Cotto last May that Miguel had given him his toughest fight to date. It only stands to reason then that with his decisive win over Cotto, Trout would now be perceived as a dangerous opponent for Floyd. Some boxing observers believe that Mayweather showed some evidence of slowing down in the Cotto fight.

The Cotto camp clearly underestimated the talented Trout as evidenced by the way Austin made adjustments during the fight. The well timed body shots by Trout early in the contest played a huge part in sapping the energy of Miguel as the fight progressed. The fact that Trout had a physical advantage cannot be overlooked. Trout at 5’10” had a three inch height advantage over the 5’7” Cotto. Trout also had the reach advantage at 73” to 67” for Cotto.

The 27 year old Trout’s victory cannot be attributed to him having a five year age advantage over the 32 year old Cotto. Austin simply used superior strategy and outfought the veteran Puerto Rican warrior.

Any thoughts of a rematch between Cotto and Mayweather have now gone out the window. The question now being asked by many boxing pundits and fans alike is, will team Mayweather now scratch Austin Trout off the list of possible opponents for Floyd because he is too dangerous?



Comments are closed.