By Rick Reeno
WBA welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi does not view Miguel Cotto (37-2, 30KOs) as a hopeless underdog on Saturday night, when the Puerto Rican superstar defends his WBA junior middleweight title against Floyd Mayweather Jr. (42-0, 26KOs).
Mayweather-Cotto headlines a major boxing event at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
In his most gutsiest performance, Malignaggi fought through adversity to lose a twelve round unanimous decision to Cotto in 2006.
Not only does Malignaggi give Cotto a good shot to upset the apple cart, he believes Cotto's style will be a more difficult challenge than that of Manny Pacquiao.
"He's very strong, he knows how to set up punches. He knows how to break up your rhythm. He knows how to disrupt your timing, he's dirty, he's very physical. There are a lot of things involved with Miguel Cotto. Floyd is Floyd and you have to favor him regardless. This is a fight. I would be very shocked if Floyd just completely dominates him," Malignaggi told BoxingScene.com.
"I think this is the best fight, outside of Pacquiao, for Mayweather. Styles make fights and I think this is a tougher style matchup for Mayweather than Pacquiao is. Styles make fights. In my estimation of the fight, Mayweather is taking on the biggest threat to him in his career. If he doesn't lose to Cotto on Saturday night, then he probably doesn't lose [ever] and he's going to retire undefeated. That's just my opinion on it."