Margarito would stop Mayweather inside 8 rounds

[Haglerwins]

I like Marg, but Floyd wins this. Mayweather can fight going backwards for 12 rounds. He's probably the most nutzo guy when it comes to stamina training in boxing. Doing something as physically demanding as dancing with the stars while training for a HUGE fight was proof of that insanity training too.

And I think any form of pressure outside of Hatton's would be a welcomed relief. Ricky was coming at him 300mph.

[Silencers]

I think Mayweather beats Margarito clearly.

[BennyST]

DLH used poor tactics in that he tried to look like the aggressor which he obviously was. He was ineffective, PBF made him look bad. He made him miss and didn't let anything big land.

Tony beats up on the body and whether you realize it or not seems to find a way to get to it early in most cases softening up opponents for later in the fight. Cotto was a perfect example, a lot of body work was put in that went unnoticed by the HBO crew.

Oscar is twice as fast and twice as accurate as Marg. He still couldn't land anything meaningful on Mayweather. Oscar can also punch and box. Marg would be utterly baffled by the angles Mayweather would be in and out of constantly and he would never be able to get set properly to land or even throw anything with any authority. If he was making Oscar miss and not allowing him to land anything big, he would make Marg look like he was swinging at someone in the crowd.

Cotto was a perfect example of a badly executed game plan and too much confidence in his power. He thought he would be able to KO Marg. Mayweather would not get caught on the ropes like Cotto did. Cotto lay on the ropes for long lengths of time getting raked to the body. Terrible way to fight a guy who can only do real damage and who fights best when he has his opponent on the ropes. Cotto looked like a defensive wizz against Marg at times, which he is clearly not. He is good but he is most certainly not Mayweather.

The only thing Marg has going for him is size and stamina (large punch out-put). Mayweather's stamina is just as good in that he can fight the last round as good as the first and be just as sharp. His out-put is obviously much lower but that would not really matter that much when the other guy is being made to miss so badly and struggling to find any angle and rhythm at which to fight. His out-put in this fight would actually be greatly diminished as he would be constantly looking for something to throw at and never getting set.

It might sound like I'm nut-hugging Mayweather, but, it is actually quite easy to see that Marg is the exact type of fighter that makes Mayweather look brilliant. He comes forward and throws lots of slow, wide, hooking punches with bad technique. He can't mix it up and can only fight one way. It would be a terribly one sided fight and that's coming from someone that neither likes nor dislikes either fighter. I can just see how this fight would turn out from having watched a lot of both guys.

The thing is, most people will think the out-put of Marg will come into play a lot. Imagine the Baldy fight against Mayweather with Baldy throwing twice as many punches ... it would give Mayweather that many more opportunities to counter. If Marg was as fast as Cotto he might stand a good chance, but he is very slow and his out-put would actually drop as he would constantly be searching. The volume wouldn't trouble Mayweather as the accuracy, speed and predictability of the combo's would be so easy to counter for him and would actually help him look better as he would be able to throw more easily landed combo's that would look nice as they would be landing so flush. While they may not hurt Marg at all, they would look good because they would be snapping his head back from landing flush.

[Addition]

Mayweather by decision.

[BennyST]

Your analysis bothers me because you talk of what Cotto did wrong, but not what Margarito forced him to do. Mayweather is the man at defense but fighting a guy who throws 100 hard punches a round changes the aspect of the fight. Making someone miss 1000+ times is a lot of work, especially if you want to win the fight with a low out put. Margarito chased Cotto and Cotto played stick and move quite a bit. Margarito had will breaking pressure. PBF has a much harder will to break mind you, but you have to throw high output to beat a fighter like Margarito if you don't have the power to hurt him.

Defense only goes so far his one punch pop shots won't work against a fighter that throw punches every second and a half. It isn't Margarito's abilities, PBF is far more skilled and intelligent. It is Margarito's chin, will, stamina, output, power, angles, and tenacity that would give PBF problems. This isn't Hatton or DLH, Tony throws punches in bunches and never stops.

Marg punches when he is set. Cotto allowed him to constantly get set by laying on the ropes and letting Marg punch away. He didn't use smart, efficient movement and he didn't clinch at all. Against a fighter like Marg, especially if you're much faster, you would wanting to be getting off first in the middle of the ring, or if you're countering, you would wait until he throws, counter and give some side movement, then clinch and walk him backwards.

Cotto did a lot more wrong than Marg did right (Marg only knows one way to fight so there is not as much room for tactical error in his game plan than for someone like Cotto who can fight different fights. There still is of course, just not as much). Cotto let Marg fight the fight he wanted. He didn't force Cotto to move too much, Cotto did that on his own. Cotto didn't clinch at all during the fight which was a terrible, terrible tactical error and he let Marg fight his fight best, which is to punch away at will on someone who is laying with his back against the ropes covering up and not stepping to the side, countering and moving back to the centre of ring or clinching and walking him back to the centre of the ring.

Cotto is a great fighter and he has the natural talent to be a good boxer/puncher, but, he does not have the proper training yet to be able to do it for a whole fight with efficiency. He wasted so much stamina trying to punch as hard as he could when he just needed to be touching Marg. Someone needed to tell him to use nothing but speed, touch him, clinch or take a step to the side, which would negate the Marg offense. Everything Cotto did was inefficient and a bad execution of the right game plan.

You don't need to spin off and move to the other side of the ring to offset the offense of someone like marg if you're that much faster. You only need to move just enough that he has to reset completely to throw again and by that stage you could have thrown and solid counter combo and scored and put him off again. Then you just step again to the side or clinch. This is the fight Mayweather does best and he would excel greatly against a fighter like Marg. It might sound like I'm hating or something, but I'm not at all. Not even slightly. I enjoy watching Margarito fight but I understand that he would not fare well against Mayweather or any good boxer that knows how to fight that type of fighter. I'm sure Cotto may have learned a great deal from that fight and if he is smart he will be able to beat Marg next time around. If...

Edit: Go and have a quick look at the Santos/Marg thread. In the video you can see that when Santos takes one step to the side either when Marg is about throw or to counter it throws Marg off completely and makes him stop, turn and start to get set again. When he lays on the ropes not moving Marg pounds on him. He makes Marg look terrible with one step or makes Marg look great by laying on the ropes. Like Cotto, Santos was not fighting that style of fight very well either and it was not his style of fighting to begin with so his mistakes were many and his efficiency was quite low. It was just lucky he was not so much smaller as Cotto was.

[The Jackal]

I think Mayweather beats Margarito clearly.

the boxer always beats the bull .
but we should take in that tony margarito took the best cotto had & just walked threw it 5 /6 punch combos & but then Floyd has trouble with his hands so would not beat him with power but his boxing brain but if any man would give him a half decent fight it would be margarito.

ps. if only the rest of the boxers thought like cotto & margarito it would be great viewing it was a huge risk for cotto to take but he took it when gave margarito a fight

[abdiel2k3]

just like the cotto fight
id bet my money on floyd
his lateral movement
quickness
smarts
is just tooo much
but id b rooten for margo to pull the upset

[The Jackal]

just like the cotto fight
id bet my money on floyd
his lateral movement
quickness
smarts
is just tooo much
but id b rooten for margo to pull the upset

quiet true but if your not in you cant win. i would be the same id be rooting for tony but you called it speed of hand & movement too much

[Silencers]

the boxer always beats the bull .
but we should take in that tony margarito took the best cotto had & just walked threw it 5 /6 punch combos & but then Floyd has trouble with his hands so would not beat him with power but his boxing brain but if any man would give him a half decent fight it would be margarito.

ps. if only the rest of the boxers thought like cotto & margarito it would be great viewing it was a huge risk for cotto to take but he took it when gave margarito a fight

Not always but it works out that way more often than not. Mayweather and Cotto fight in very different styles, as they say, styles make fights, Mayweather's style beats Margarito's.

A lot of credit definitely should be given to both men.

[The Jackal]

just like the cotto fight
id bet my money on floyd
his lateral movement
quickness
smarts
is just tooo much
but id b rooten for margo to pull the upset

Not always but it works out that way more often than not. Mayweather and Cotto fight in very different styles, as they say, styles make fights, Mayweather's style beats Margarito's.

A lot of credit definitely should be given to both men.

its just a shame we wont ever see them fight do expect a second cotto v margarito & in your opinion would cotto be able to pull it off