For Floyd Mayweather, the Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez fight reduces to negative Miguel Cott

www.mlive.com/mayweather/index.ssf/2013/09/for_floyd_mayweather_the_saul.html MLive All Michigan Set Weather Home News Business Sports H.S. Sports Entertainment Jobs Autos Real Estate Rentals Classifieds Obituaries Find N Save Local Businesses Place An Ad For Floyd Mayweather, the Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez fight reduces to negative Miguel Cotto comparisons Floyd Mayweather says Saul "Canelo" Alvarez doesn't compare to Miguel Cotto. (Josh Slagter | MLive.com) By David Mayo | dmayo@mlive.com Follow on Twitter on September 13, 2013 at 10:05 AM, updated September 13, 2013 at 7:58 PM View/Post Comments LAS VEGAS -- For Floyd Mayweather, the task of protecting the zero on his record and removing that of Saul "Canelo" Alvarez falls largely to reconfiguring a template set 16 months ago, yet open to tweaking. That's when Mayweather fought and defeated Miguel Cotto but took enough punishment in the process that, after two months of reflection sitting in a Las Vegas jail cell in summer of 2012, he decided to switch trainers and bring back his father after a 12-year working fissure. It was Cotto, Mayweather has said for the last 16 months, who gave him the most difficult fight of a 17-year, 44-0 career. And it is Cotto, Mayweather said, against whom he compared Alvarez, and decided that Saturday's megafight may not be so difficult after all. Cotto marked Mayweather's second foray into the super welterweight division, with the other being his 2007 win over Oscar De La Hoya, and the Grand Rapids native insisted the fight be contested at the full 154-pound limit so as not to limit one of his most worthy opponents. After Cotto proved worthier than some expected, despite the clear unanimous decision against him, Mayweather made changes. He didn't allow Alvarez the same luxury as Cotto and enforced a 152-pound weight limit in his return to the super welterweight division. He brought back his father to tighten up his defense in anticipation of just this moment, against a young lion 13 years his junior, with a 42-0-1 record and enough power to make bettors here keep Mayweather as a respectable 5-2 favorite. Floyd Mayweather: Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez just another opponent Floyd Mayweather credited everyone from his staff to the sponsors during his speech at Wednesday's final press conference. (Video by Josh Slagter | MLive.com) Finally, Mayweather played the comparison game. He looked hard at Cotto, one of the best fighters of his generation, whose career was marred only by two other losses, when Antonio Margarito gave him a near-inexplicable beating before being caught six months later with plaster in his handwraps before a fight, and when Manny Pacquiao forced Cotto down to a catch-weight -- like Mayweather did to Alvarez -- and scored a 2009 knockout, two months after the first steroid accusations leveled by the Mayweather camp against against Pacquiao, who hasn't knocked out anyone since Cotto. Then, Mayweather compared the 23-year-old Alvarez's pristine record to Cotto's. "Is he tough like Cotto? No," Mayweather said. "Can he box like Cotto? No. Can he punch like Cotto? No. Has he faced the same opposition that Cotto's faced? No. So am I worried? Absolutely not. "That's how you weigh the situation. I look at certain things like that and that's how I go into a fight. Has he fought the same caliber of fighters as Juan Manuel Marquez (whom Mayweather defeated in 2009) has fought? Has he fought the same caliber of fighters as Miguel Cotto fought?" We will presume to know the unstated answers. But Cotto, even in defeat, disclosed underlying issues which Mayweather needed to address. After Floyd Mayweather Sr. resigned as his son's trainer in 2000 amid a major camp upheaval, the younger Mayweather became a much more offensive-minded fighter while trained by his uncle Roger Mayweather, Floyd Sr.'s brother. That helped make Mayweather the pound-for-pound king but also more vulnerable. Shane Mosley shook him in the second round of their 2010 fight. Cotto hit him way too much for comfort in 2012. Floyd Mayweather Sr.: There's no fear of Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez Floyd Mayweather Sr. says his son is looking as good as ever, after returning to the gym so quickly after a May fight. (Video by Josh Slagter | MLive.com) So the change was made, back to his father, partly because Mayweather realized during his jail stint that he had some personal reparations to make, but also because slightly diminished reflexes and legs meant he needed to get back to his defensive roots or face the consequences. Mayweather Sr. promised there would be changes and his son had a better defensive performance in a May win over Robert Guerrero. But that was a welterweight fight, at five pounds less than Saturday's limit, against a less-risky opponent. Mayweather Sr. said several things will be different against Alvarez than against Cotto because of his presence in his son's corner. He gives Alvarez credit for having more punching power than perhaps anyone his son has faced. But he also insists that information gleaned from within Alvarez's camp has disclosed a serious weight problem on the other side, and that Canelo must lose muscle weight to make the limit. "Once he gets into the muscle, where's the power coming from?" he said. "There ain't gonna be no power." Mayweather Sr. said he never has watched his son's fight with Cotto. He didn't intend it that way, just never got around to it, he said. He also said he only watched two of Alvarez's fights, against Mosley and Austin Trout, because he said they were the only championship-caliber opponents worth watching. His conclusion? "This right here," Mayweather Sr. said of Alvarez, "is a sparring partner." 1 / 49 -- David Mayo has covered Floyd Mayweather throughout the boxer's career. Contact him at dmayo@mlive.com. Mayweather-Alvarez links: Floyd's win over 'Canelo' his greatest performance ever? Amir Khan? Manny Pacquiao? Examining what's next for Floyd Mayweather after latest win Video: Floyd Mayweather says champion Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez will 'carry the torch' Floyd Mayweather escorted to ring by Justin Bieber, Lil Wayne; celebrities flock to megafight CompuBox: Floyd Mayweather connects on 42 percent of jabs in Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez win All Stories | All Photos | All Videos View/Post Comments Related Stories Mayweather-Alvarez links: Floyd's win over 'Canelo' his greatest performance ever? Amir Khan? Manny Pacquiao? 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