by Andrew Hall: The first question is, can it be done? The answer to this question is a resounding yes. In fact, according to many people it has already been done by Jose Luis Castillo in his epic first bout with Floyd “Money” Mayweather. Since that fight, however, Floyd has improved so the question of how to defeat him remains a mystery.
Floyd Mayweather has two primary weaknesses. The first weakness I’m 100% sure about but the second weakness I’m only about 75% sure about. The first weakness is that he doesn’t throw a lot of punches. So, all you have to do to get an edge is throw a lot of punches. Of course, you don’t want to just swing. You want to place them well. The head can move but the body can’t. Any fighter that wants to defeat Mayweather (yes Cotto, I am speaking to you) must forget the head and go to the body. The best punch to use against Floyd is a hard left jab. Miguel Cotto has a good jab and could potentially give Floyd problems IF he uses it a lot on May 5th.
The second weakness that Floyd has (the one I”m not so sure about) is his chin. No fighter goes to such lengths to master the art of defense unless it is to hide a weakness. Now, Floyd has never been knocked out so I can’t say this is a problem for him for sure. However, look at his family. both his daddy and his uncle had suspect chins. This is especially true of Roger Mayweather. So, following up on my previous advice (kill the body and the head will follow) Cotto needs to go for that bodacious head shot to knock out Mayweather late in the fight.
Many people think that Cottos only shot is early on in the fight. I disagree and I think Cotto will be making a HUGE tactical error if he goes for broke in the first few rounds. What he needs to do is stay behind a stiff hard jab, keep Floyd moving backward (if Floyd backs him up Cotto is in huge trouble), cut the ring off, and land hard shots to the arms and body.
Defensively Cotto needs to do two things. First, he needs lean away from Floyds right hand. By doing this he can force Mayweather to throw a long right hand. Then, if he can make Money miss, he can come underneath and land the hook to the body. There is a very specific technique to doing this correctly and hopefully the amateur trainer he has can help him master this move. I dont have time to go into it here but if he can open Floyd up and land body shots he could pull off the upset.
Now, with all that being said. I doubt very seriously this will happen. If it does, it will mean a lot of future big pay days to the Puerto Rican Superstar. Good luck to both fighters!