Saturday night many boxing fans forked over their hard-earned $60-$70 with expectations to see entertainer extraordinaire Floyd Mayweather Jr. dodge, duck and dance around his opponent Miguel Cotto. With the exception of Bernard Hopkins, no active boxer comes close to the defensive wizardry Mayweather displays in the ring. But as much as the brash talk and flashy ways reel in the fans, his opponents’ inability to land solid punches usually reel in the wins.
But a funny thing happened at the start of the scheduled boxing lesson – a bona fide fight broke out.
While Mayweather won a comfortable decision on the scorecards (118-110, 117-111, 117-111), the fight itself was anything but. The champion/underdog Cotto came forward relentlessly the entire fight. Unlike many Mayweather-fallen foes, his pressure was effective at times. Each time Mayweather backed into the ropes, Cotto picked up his proverbial shovel and dug hard shots into his opponent’s rib cage. Though Mayweather often shimmied, smiled and countered throughout the exchanges, it was clear Cotto’s body assault created openings up top.
Mayweather almost always leaves fights with little to no signs of wear and tear.
But card-carrying fan club members and devoted detractors shared the same befuddled looks upon seeing the 43-0 fighter in the corner with a bloody nose. While his 2007 bout against Oscar De La Hoya was extremely close on the scorecards, no fighter had pressured Mayweather as successfully since Jose Luis Castillo nearly a decade ago. Even though Cotto landed a paltry 21 percent connect percentage (no surprise, considering Mayweather’s aforementioned defensive pedigree), the fact that the man who averages an astounding 46 percent connect percentage according to CompuBox was also held to a meager 26 percent shows Cotto’s effectiveness.
Make no bones about it, even Cotto performed better than many expected, Mayweather still proved to be the superior fighter. Cotto may have caused some depreciation to “Money’s” million-dollar smile, but in the end the victor was clear and the new champ showed rare graciousness in his win.
“You’re a hell of a champion, the toughest guy I ever fought,” Mayweather said to Cotto during his post-fight interview. “I had to fight hard, suck it up. He’s no pushover.”
Mayweather went on to state that he stood and traded with Cotto by design. He wanted to show fans he could duke it out with a tough fighter and produce exciting fights instead of just exciting press conferences. As with many things, his decision may have been a carefully calculated business decision. On June 1, the champ must turn himself into authorities to begin an 87-day jail sentence. Knowing he’d be off the scene for a few months, he decided to leave his fans with a gem to hold them over until his release.
Mayweather vs Pacquiao: Git r done
Hopefully during his downtime, he will come to his senses and ease up on all the ridiculous demands and accusations and agree to fight Manny Pacquiao in the winter. Despite absolutely no evidence or reasonable suspicions, Mayweather continues to assert that Pacquiao takes performance-enhancing drugs and that fighting him would be a “health risk.” Yes, while Pacquiao turned pro at 106 lbs. he was only 16 years old. What amateur weight class did Mayweather win the National Golden Gloves title at 16 years old? You guessed it – 106 lbs.
It’s not that difficult. Pacquiao has agreed to the testing, Mayweather needs to agree to a 50/50 purse split. The two top fighters in the sport have both shown signs of vulnerability in their last fights. Presuming Pacquiao gets by Tim Bradley and his head butts of horrors on June 9, it seems to be now or never for the latest “fight of the century.”
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