By Chris Williams: Floyd Mayweather Jr’s trainer/uncle Roger Mayweather sees WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (39-4, 32 KO’s) as a better fighter and more dangerous guy than Manny Pacquiao, even though Cotto was stopped by Pacquiao in the 12th round in their catch-weight fight in 2009.
When asked by Hustleboss who the more dangerous fighter is Cotto or Pacquiao, Roger said “Cotto. Pacquiao ain’t [expletive]. Cotto has more ability. He’s a better puncher and he’s a bigger guy. Pacquiao ain’t never going to win no middleweight title.”
I think Roger is underestimating what a good catch-weight handicap could do for Pacquiao. I think he could maybe beat one of the middleweight champions if he had a good enough catch-weight for the fight. For example, if Pacquiao could get Peter Quillin in the ring at a catch-weight of say 150lbs, I’d pick Pacquiao to win a middleweight title. The same with IBF champion Sam Soliman.
With the right catch-weight, Pacquiao could probably knock him out without any problems. Of course, both Quillin and Soliman would likely be so weak that they’d be knocked out by anyone in the welterweight division, but that’s beside the point. No one in the welterweight division would have the cache to get them to agree to fight at a huge catch-weight handicap other than one of the major stars at 147.
When reminded that Pacquiao knocked Cotto out 5 years ago, Roger rolled his eyes and said “You know how that was. He beat a whole bunch of [expletive] once.”
Roger doesn’t seem to think that Pacquiao could knock Cotto out if the two of them were to fight at the middleweight division now.
Cotto is so much better now than he was at 147 and 154. It would be a much different story if he fought Pacquiao without being drained by a catch-weight first. Cotto is stronger and bigger now than Pacquiao, and it would be a brutal fight for Pacquiao, because Cotto wouldn’t agree to a catch-weight if his trainer Freddie Roach, personal adviser Michael Koncz, or promoter Bob Arum started talking that. Cotto would lay on the line by saying the fight would have to take place at 160 or not at all.
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