A soothsayer once told
Julius Caesar to “beware the ides of March.” Someone should have told Floyd
Mayweather to beware Cinco De Mayo.
Now, there’s no denying that
Floyd Mayweather is one of the greatest boxers to ever lace up a pair of gloves
but tonight, he steps through the ropes to face Miguel Cotto. The last time we
saw Cotto, he was in the process of shattering Antonio Margarito’s right
orbital bone, avenging a loss most fans believed occurred because Margarito had
Plaster of Paris inserts in his hand wraps the first time he faced Miguel on
July 26th 2008, at Madison Square Garden.
Margarito was caught with
those same inserts in his hand wraps in his dressing room before his January
2009 fight with Shane Mosley, leaving him disgraced and seen as a coward in the
eyes of many true boxing fans.
So where does all of that leave
“Money May”?
As observed many times
during the course of his career, Miguel Cotto is a rough-and-tumble type of
fighter. He likes to get to the inside and work the body, opening up his
opponent for power shots to the head.
Of course that’s not going
to happen if Mayweather can stay away from Cotto’s relentless pursuit, bringing
this all down to a very simple question: Can Cotto catch him?
And if he can, can Mayweather
withstand the punishment Cotto will unleash?
That’s really where this
fight lies. Cotto knows he can never outbox Mayweather. By the same token, Mayweather
will never out-bull Cotto.
Floyd will come out on his
toes, sticking his lightning fast jab in Cotto’s face and follow up with power
shots to keep Miguel off balance so he can’t get set for the body attack.
But unlike Floyd, Cotto has
been in some wars, most notably his first fight with Margarito, when he was
left beaten and bloodied. He’s not a stranger to getting hit and seems willing
to take a couple to get on the inside where he can do damage- and that will be
his game plan.
For Cotto to win, he has to
slow Mayweather down and turn the fight into a brawl. Mayweather has never
really been in an all-out war and that’s just what Cotto is going to try to do.
Cotto has to force Mayweather to go toe-to-toe, then systematically break him
down.
Yes, it’s a lot easier said
than done but there are many fans who think the main reason Mayweather avoids
facing Manny Pacquiao is due to “Pac-Man’s” constant attack, in which he comes
at you, winging punches with both hands like a windmill in a hurricane.
It is very difficult to defend
against that type of fighter and, on some levels, that’s how Cotto fights- by
applying constant pressure.
There are a couple of
noteworthy things to mention…
In his fight with Victor Ortiz,
before the flagrant headbutt and before the “Let’s get a room” kiss-fest, Ortiz
backed Mayweather into the corner and was starting to land on the inside. Why
Ortiz resorted to headbutting under those circumstances remains a mystery to
many.
So what happens if Cotto backs
up Mayweather in the same manner?
If Cotto can keep Mayweather
pressed against the ropes, he will rip to the body, eventually bringing it
upstairs. If this comes off, Cotto will win by knockout. If not, Mayweather
will win by decision.
I’ll go with Cotto.
