Cotto chasm shows Floyd's true class

If you still harbour doubts about whether Floyd Mayweather will go down as an all time elite fighter, you need only to examine the reaction of boxing fans and experts alike regarding the announcement of his May 5th bout with 154lb champion and future hall of famer Miguel Cotto.

Not Pacquiao

No doubt coupled with the disappointment of seeing yet another round of Pacquiao-Mayweather negotiations fall through, much of the boxing world let out a resigned sigh when the confirmation of Mayweather-Cotto arrived 2 weeks ago.  "Another easy win for Floyd.  Another bull shit fight".  The odds already show Mayweather as a 1/7 favourite with the bookmakers.  Most Mayweather fans believe that Cotto offers little threat to Floyd's unblemished record and in truth, most Cotto fans (like myself) feel the same even if they choose to keep their reservations more private. You would be hard pressed to find a boxing expert who will give Cotto more than a puncher's chance at the MGM Grand in just over 3 months time.

It shouldn't be that way though.  Miguel Cotto is multiple weight-class world champion.  A man with one (at most) legitimate loss on his record.  He is bigger than Floyd.  He is younger than Floyd. He is fighting at his weight class (the junior middleweight division) against a fighter who has only been there once in his career (exactly 5 years previous come fight night). He is a legitimately world class fighter and before his 'loss' to Antonio Margarito in 2008, he was the man the that every boxing fan wanted to see in the ring with Mayweather.  Floyd was relentlessly accused of ducking Cotto before Margarito temporarily derailed Miguel's career with the aid of his illegally loaded gloves. Cotto, unbeaten going in to 2008 like Floyd, was seen as the young Puerto Rican warrior who could overcome Mayweather's peerless defensive skills.  Sadly, due to a combination of Margarito's cheating and Mayweather's short lived 'retirement' the fight between the best two welterweights in the world at that time never came to fruition.

Who else?

Outside of Manny Pacquiao, at this moment Miguel Cotto is the best match up for Floyd.  He has won 3 straight fights against Yuri Foreman, Ricardo Mayorga and Antonio Margarito, stopping all three inside the distance.  He has looked more comfortable at 154lbs than he previously did at 147lbs (or 145lbs in his catch weight bout with Pacquiao) and remains one of the most feared body punchers in boxing. Against anyone else, the thought of Miguel Cotto being a 7/1 underdog is simply inconceivable.  Manny Pacquiao himself wanted a rematch with Cotto before this fight was signed but during negotiations Team Pacquiao insisted on another catch weight that Cotto wouldn't agree to.  Good for him; once bitten twice shy.

Pacquiao's camp know that at 154lbs Cotto is a different animal than the man who looked drained and weak the night he weighed in at 145lbs against Manny back in 2009.  Taking all the above into account and throwing in the caveat that Floyd Mayweather is now 35 years old, this should be being billed as a mega fight that could potentially go either way, indeed, it would be if it weren't for the fact that Floyd Mayweather is by far and away the most skilled boxer of his generation.

Despite his age, his inactivity, a jail sentence hanging over his head and the quality of his opponent, anything other than a Mayweather win will be the biggest shock to boxing since Mike Tyson was knocked out by Buster Douglas.  If Cotto had signed a fight with Manny Pacquiao at 154lbs you can guarantee people would give him a damn good chance of attaining revenge on the Filipino.  Fighting Floyd at the same weight though?  Not so much.

Some people have criticised Floyd for fighting 'Manny's leftovers' by taking this fight with Cotto but I don't see it that way at all.  Realistically who else could Floyd have fought?  Sergio Martinez has an upcoming bout and is simply too big for Floyd, a fight at around 150lbs would mean Martinez draining himself a dangerous amount and if the fight was above 150lbs Floyd would be dramatically over matched in terms of size.  Martinez is not a box office draw like Cotto either.  Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez might be a promising young fighter but the biggest win on his resume is currently Kermit Cintron.  Hardly enough to warrant a ' super fight' with the best fighter on the planet.  Robert Guerrero was mentioned but he is yet to fight at junior welterweight let alone 147lbs and Amir Khan, the other box office name on offer to Mayweather must first avenge his defeat to Lamont Peterson before he steps up.  Cotto therefore, is the best opponent Floyd could have picked both from a financial standpoint and in terms of competition.  It is not Mayweather's fault that anyone he faces provides minimal risk to his undefeated streak.  Regrettably, he wasn't born into an era that contained fighters like Tommy Hearns, Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Roberto Duran or Wilfred Benitez but he should not be criticised or penalised for this.

Cotto Mk. II

Many fans feel that Cotto is not the same fighter he was a few years ago and while this may be the case, he should still pose a bigger threat to Floyd than he did against Pacquiao, at least in theory.  When Cotto was knocked out in the 12th round against Manny he was coming off 2 gruelling fights with Margarito (loaded gloves and all) and Joshua Clottey.  Mentally he was damaged and his body was getting too big to make the welterweight limit and for that particular fight he had to come in 2lbs under the welterweight limit to face the 'smaller' Pacquiao who looked far more comfortable and healthy at the weight.  Cotto looked slightly drawn and while undoubtedly cut, his body looked slender next to Pacquiao, a man who, at their natural weights, Cotto dwarfs.

Despite all that, he boxed relatively well in a competitive first half of the fight, getting to Pacquiao and landing some sickening uppercuts and hooks.  He only retreated into his shell after a powerful second knock down in round 4 of the fight that hurt him badly.  His career at welterweight thankfully ended that night and he subsequently moved up to the 154lb division where he has looked more like the Cotto of old, boxing well and systematically breaking down all of his opponents whilst capturing and defending the WBA title.

On a personal note, this is a meeting of my two favourite current fighters.  On May 5th my heart will be hoping for an upset but my head says that Floyd runs out a convincing winner.  Cotto is going to have to box at a level he has never reached before and do it for 12 rounds if he is to beat Floyd.  Getting off solid blows on Floyd Mayweather consistently is akin to winning the lottery 5 times in a row.  It just doesn't happen.  Every time Miguel tries to get inside and land his left hook Floyd will be there, blocking and countering as he always has done.  If Miguel keeps his distance and tries to jab Floyd will attack with his devastatingly accurate lead right hand. From a tactical standpoint Floyd Mayweather is a nightmare to face.  As he revels in telling us, there is no blue print on how to beat him.  "42 have tried and 42 have failed" he proudly repeats over and over and he is right.  I'm banking on Cotto at least making it a semi competitive fight more down to his will than his skill but I can't see anything other than Floyd capturing yet another title in comprehensive fashion.

The Facts

No other match up could be made right now that offers more of a threat to Floyd Mayweather's continued dominance.  Miguel Cotto is the hardest opponent that he can take on right now.  The problem for Cotto and the rest is that it really doesn't matter who the opponent is, whoever Floyd fights people will call it a mismatch and with good cause.  Floyd fighting anyone is a mismatch. Miguel Cotto is one of the best fighters of our generation.  Floyd Mayweather is one of the best fighters of any generation.  That is the cold reality facing Cotto on May 5th.  I wish him the best of luck, he will undoubtedly need it.

Suarez Walks Alone

'At the end of the storm, there's a golden sky' Turns out Liverpool's hierarchy couldn't wait any longer for that golden sky and attempted to take a short cut to it by offering up Luis Suarez as a sacrifice.  

"We are extremely disappointed Luis Suarez did not shake hands with Patrice Evra before yesterday's game.  The player told us beforehand that he would, but then chose not to do so.


He was wrong to mislead us and wrong not to offer his hand to Patrice Evra.  He has not only let himself down, but Kenny Dalglish, his team mates and the Club.  It has been made absolutely clear to Luis Suarez that his behaviour was not acceptable.  


Luis Suarez has now apologised for his actions which was the right thing to do.  However, all of us have a duty to behave in a responsible manner and we hope that he now understands what is expected of anyone representing Liverpool Football Club."  Ian Ayre Managing Director of Liverpool Football Club.


Ian Ayre, Tom Werner, John Henry and FSG finally succumbed to the pressure.  They decided that enough was enough.  Liverpool Football Club couldn't have it's name dragged through the mud any more.  In response to the nation wide the media shit storm that has enveloped the club (because of a handshake no less), Liverpool's top brass decided that the damage being done to their 'global brand' was too great and did a complete 180 degree turn on the man they have steadfastly defended for the past 5 months.  


Liverpool yesterday went hat in hand to Manchester United, the F.A and the vultures in the press and begged for mercy.  No more of this, please.  We're in the wrong, we admit it, please stop hammering us.  The Twitter consensus was that Liverpool had finally done the right thing and had begun to move on from this whole ugly affair.  The national journalists offered up faint praise and a plethora of smug 'I told you so' articles.  Luis Suarez, the villain of the piece had damaged the club's image almost to the point of no return and now the wheels are set in motion for his departure in the summer.  Everyone is a whole lot happier.  


Except for the supporters who have constantly stood by Luis Suarez for good reason and undoubtedly, the player himself.  The apology offered up on liverpoolfc.tv by 'Suarez' was certainly not his own.  I expected no apology from Luis and frankly I didn't want one. Admittedly Suarez could have just offered a token shake of the hand and tried to move on with the whole affair but he decided not to.  It was his choice.  Why should he have shaken Patrice Evra's hand if he didn't want to? He believes that his image has been unfairly ruined by that man, that his career is potentially in tatters because of Evra's lies.  He declined the hand shake and good for him.  He knows the lies that man told and wants nothing to do with him.  But this isn't just about a handshake.  

The problem Suarez has faced all along was that no one at the club or in the main stream media put forward his side of things.  He and club kept silent on their reasons for criticising the F.A's guilty verdict. No one stood up and explained why he was unrepentant and disagreed with the F.A investigation.  Liverpool Football Club stood by him but they did so in a manner that was perplexing to the average man on the street who was unaware of the facts surrounding the case. I'm not going to repeat the reasons why that F.A report was a joke but the fact is that most people simply picked up their papers December 20th, read that he had been found guilty and subsequently saw Liverpool defending a man branded as a racist in extremely aggressive ways with little in the way of explanation.  Suarez has been made out to be some kind of malevolent megalomaniac who believes he is above the law and can do what he wants when in reality he simply rejects the findings of a ludicrous report carried out by 3 men in suits that found him guilty of racism.


I've tried to let this whole situation pass me by but with the re emergence of it in light of 'handshakegate' I can't help myself.  The thing that bothers me is the ignorance of people regarding the whole situation.  Most of the people passing comments on Suarez on their Twitter feeds and Facebook statuses have about as much knowledge of the initial verdict as I do of string theory.  They know only that Suarez was found guilty, Liverpool defended him and that he then declined a handshake from the man he had racially abused.


Throw in Mr. Alex Ferguson's deplorable and hilariously hypocritical post-match comments and suddenly it seemed that everyone in the country (and indeed, beyond) was on the same page; Suarez was scum.  We had the New York Times demanding that John Henry act on the situation to salvage Liverpool's reputation, Gordon Taylor saying Suarez had made him 'sick to his stomach' and we even had George Galloway demanding that Suarez be deported! Nothing like a good old fashioned world wide witch hunt is there? 


The moment Suarez declined the handshake we all knew this was coming of course, but I expected and demanded a reaction from Liverpool Football Club.  I wanted them to come out all guns blazing, lay all their cards on the table and accept the repercussions.  Standing up for what you believe in is never easy when almost everyone is against you but I wanted LFC to come out and blast Ferguson's comments and lay the whole thing bare.  Come out with a press conference, an official statement, whatever, just explain why we are standing by Luis Suarez.  Let the public know why we reject the F.A's verdict and why Kenny Dalglish has backed Suarez all the way. No one at Liverpool believed he was guilty in the first place and with good reason but those reasons aren't known by Joe Public.  If you don't believe me go and ask one of the neutral football fans who have hammered him on your twitter feed this weekend about exactly what Suarez was found guilty of and the 'proof' against him.  I guarantee they won't have the correct answers.  

Liverpool we're left with two choices.  Back down, blame Luis Suarez for not 'doing the honourable thing' and give the baying masses what they wanted by publicly criticising him or they could stand up for what they have believed in all along and fight to clear his name regardless of the merciless mud slinging from all corners.  Unfortunately they took easy way out and threw Luis Suarez to the wolves in order to try and salvage their image.  From the owner's position's they have a worldwide brand that is being damaged and they could stand to lose a lot of money and have decided to try and protect it by finally bringing an end to this circus.  I understand that but morally I cannot condone it.


There are reasons they went this far to defend Luis Suarez and instead of making those reasons explicitly clear to the nation they have done what Suarez refused to do on Saturday and backed down.  If Liverpool Football Club's top brass had the fortitude of their number 7 they would now have a club in the eye of a perfect storm fighting off criticism from every angle but at least they'd be being true to themselves.  At least they'd be the Liverpool Football Club that their fans would recognise instead of a global brand desperately trying to appease it's enemies via the public sacrifice of it's most important player.


'You'll Never Walk Alone' must seem like an ironic choice of club anthem to Luis Suarez after yesterday.