By Chris Robinson
To those who have followed the career of Miguel Cotto, it was of no real surprise when he gave a great account of himself during his unanimous decision loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. on May 5th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Cotto fought with a special kind of calculated aggression and had his moments where he drew Mayweather into a good ol’ fashioned fire fight, ultimately failing short by scores of 118-110 and 117-111 twice against the man regarded by many as the world’s premier fighter.
In the wake of his performance there is much interest revolving around Cotto’s next move but not everyone is taken aback by the Puerto Rican banger. Working the corner of his nephew on the evening of May 5th, outspoken trainer Roger Mayweather doesn’t feel that Cotto was successful at all with his tactics.
“I don’t even know if he won one round,” Roger would state on Thursday afternoon from the Mayweather Boxing Club. “I don’t believe he won a round; I didn’t see it. Floyd beat his *ss easy.”
Asked if he was surprised that the fight turned out to be more of a brawl that initially expected, Roger revealed that making it a dog fight was Cotto’s only real option.
“No, I thought that was the kind of fight it was going to be,” Roger would add. “The only way he had a chance was moving forward. He can’t outbox Floyd. He had to do what he had to do.”
Cotto had a riveting eighth round, lifting the crowd to its feet as he fired away with reckless abandon while pinning Mayweather on the ropes. Against unimpressed, Roger pointed out none of those punches were really getting through.
“He wasn’t hitting sh*t,” Roger said smugly. “He wasn’t hitting nothing. A whole bunch of people get Floyd on the ropes. They don’t hit him clean though. Boxing is about landing clean punches and that’s why they scored the fight the way it was.”
As for Floyd’s future, Roger only has one man in mind but admits that other options might have to present themselves.
“Pacquiao. I’d like to see the fight but if it don’t happen. Floyd’s got to fight somebody,” said Roger.
