The Cotto Mayweather will face will be better than the one Pacquiao beat

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I stumbled upon a headline recenty about Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and Miguel Cotto's Cinco de Mayo slugfest in Las Vegas that suggested that this version of the Boricua bomber may be better than the one Manny Pacquiao destroyed in 2009.

Though I didn't really get to read the contents of the said piece, the statement definitely got me thinking. Can this version of Cotto really be better than the one Pacquiao annihilated?

If you are a fan of the "fighting someone's leftovers" theory, then the answer is definitely "no". I, however, never bought into that frivolous concept, whether it was Mayweather saying Pacquiao fought his leftovers, or now that Pacquiao's fans claim Mayweather is doing the same.

All things considered, I believe that the Cotto Mayweather will face on May 5th, will be better than the one Pacquiao beat.

Here's why:

At 154, Cotto will be fighting at his natural and comfortable weight. The version Pacquiao fought had to cut down to 145, which was their catchweight for that match-up. Hypothetically, this means Cotto will be able to carry more firepower with him and take more damage as well with the added size and strength. Something he will definitely need against Mayweather.

This will be a smarter and more experienced Cotto. The one Pacquiao fought was trained by Joe Santiago, who was elevated to the head trainer role after a falling out with his original trainer and uncle Evangelista Cotto. Santiago stepped up to the plate as well as he could, but was simply way over his head and overmatched. A fight of that magnitude was simply too much to ask from a young and inexperienced corner man.

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This Cotto will have more than a year of experience training with Hall of Fame trainer Emanuel Steward. Steward brought Cotto back to his roots and reminded him about the importance of his effective jabs and fundamentals.

His new trainer, Cuban Olympic team coach Pedro Luis Diaz, has also proven to be effective as Cotto looked solid in his win over Antonio Margarito during their rematch last December. Diaz's expertise will help a lot in trying to come up with a gameplan against the very fundamentally sound Mayweather.

Also, Mayweather does not have the type of firepower that can overwhelm Cotto the way Pacquiao did. Mayweather will implement some of his tactics, but Cotto himself has a lot of tricks in his bag.

The intangibles will favor Cotto as well. While Mayweather faces jailtime after the fight, the Boricua bomber, who had a great 2011 campaign, has nothing to lose and everything to gain in attempting to vandalize Mayweather's impeccable record.

With all that said, I still think it'll be a tall task for Cotto to beat Mayweather. The Puerto Rican will definitely have his moments, but unless he hurts Mayweather real bad, I can't see out he will outbox and outfox a 100% Mayweather for 12 rounds. Anything can happen though, and Cotto has proven himself to be one of the few true elite boxers in the game today. He is coming in, understandably, as the significant underdog, but a very live dog at that.

I'd definitely pay to watch this fight.

- dSG -

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