By Chris Robinson
In the midst of the madness that was the Floyd Mayweather-Miguel Cotto weigh-in at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, I crossed paths with living legend Roy Jones Jr.
Having been ringside for countless super fights during his tenure as a ringside commentator for HBO, Jones has broken down many a fight and offered up his thoughts on whether or not Cotto, the sport’s reigning WBA junior middleweight champion, can be successful against the undefeated Mayweather.
“It’s a great fight for Mayweather and Cotto,” Jones would explain. “I don’t know if Cotto is willing to sell out, to go toe to toe for twelve rounds, to take the punishment that is necessary to beat a Floyd Mayweather, but it is a great fight. I don’t think Floyd has seen many fighters like Cotto, with the punching power in both hands and who can move a little bit laterally and make different kind of attacks at him, but we’ll see what happens.”
Asked what it would take to beat a fighter like Floyd Mayweather, Jones responded immediately.
“You’ve got to put pressure on him for twelve rounds, that’s the only chance you’ve got,” said Jones. “[Jose Luis Castillo] fought him the best. He put the pressure on Floyd. He made it the most interesting fight for Floyd that I’ve seen so far. But that shows you that you’ve got to have that kind of heart and be willing to sell out to that type of fight or you’re going to beat him.”
People have been dying to see Mayweather test himself against Manny Pacquiao for a few years now but Jones doesn’t see the urgency in such a matchup.
“No, he does not,” said Jones when asked if Mayweather needed the fight. “Because Pacquiao still hasn’t truthfully settled the score with Juan Manuel Marquez. So how can you say Floyd needs this guy who has an open book with another guy still to cement his legacy? That’s not true.”
Pacquiao defeated Marquez via a debated majority-decision this past November in the third bout of a memorable trilogy. The Filipino icon is set for a defense of his WBO welterweight championship against Timothy Bradley on June 9th.
