This weekend Floyd Mayweather Jr will move up in weight to take on the 154 WBA World Champion, Miguel Cotto. Many experts and fans a like have made predictions on the outcome of the fight with a lot of them leaning towards the obvious favorite, Mayweather. However if you look at their past there is four common opponents between the two that tell a different story, lets shed some light on their past. April 19th, 2003 Victoriano Sosa entered the ring against WBC Lightweight Champion, Floyd Mayweather Jr. In a typical Mayweather performance, Floyd outclassed and out skilled Sosa, taking home a unanimous decision victory with scores of 118-110, 118-110 and 119-109. One year later Sosa moved up in weight and challenged Miguel Cotto at the Super Lightweight limit in a bout scheduled for 12 rounds. It didn’t take long for Cotto to break down the usual tough and rugged Sosa, stopping him in the 4th round after knocking him down three times. That same year Floyd Mayweather Jr moved up in weight to the Super Lightweight division, taking on DeMarcus “Chop Chop” Corley. In the fourth round of that bout Floyd Mayweather got caught with a big counter right hook from Chop Chop that had him reeling into the ropes looking out on his feet and ready to go. To his credit he was able to bounce back from that shaky fourth round, knocking down Corley in the 8th and 10th rounds en route to a 12 round unanimous decision victory. When Corley traveled to Puerto Rico a year later he knew he was in hostile territory being in Miguel Cotto’s backyard and would have to make a huge statement in order to win. It didn’t start out that way, in the first round he was bullied around the ring and was shoved to the ground after a glancing left hook that was ruled a knockdown. Corley continued to fight back and in the third round the same right hook that had Floyd in trouble a year earlier had Miguel Cotto the most hurt I have ever seen him in his career on very unsteady legs. They continued to go to war until the fight was stopped controversially in the fifth round. Enter in Zab “Super” Judah. When he faced Floyd Mayweather for the first half of the fight he was able to confuse and out speed Floyd, hurting him early in the proccess as well and knocking Floyd down although it was not ruled by the Referee as an official knockdown. Mayweather was able to pull out a 12 round decision in that fight, figuring out Zab’s aggresive style and coasted to victory. When Zab stepped into the ring against Miguel Cotto once again he started off extremely fast, outboxing Miguel and landing some vicious uppercuts that had Cotto on shaky legs. Miguel continued to grit his way through the fight and went to war with Zab, earning an 11th round TKO victory with his relentless pressure and power punches that wore down Judah. Finally, the biggest name fighter of the four common opponents Sugar Shane Mosley. In his fight with Floyd Mayweather they both started off the first round very slow and cautious, and it wasn’t until the second round that fireworks began to erupt. Shane jabbed to the body and followed up with an over hand right that crashed against the head of Mayweather buckling his knees. With Mayweather in survival mode, Shane continued to press the action and just when it seemed Mayweather had his bearings back Shane landed another huge right hand and it appeared as if it wouldn’t be long before Shane Mosley put an end to the undefeated streak of Mayweather. But yet again like a true great fighter, he adjusted his game plan and dominated every round from there on out to the point where it looked as if he could stop Mosley any time if he were to step on the gas pedal a little harder. Rewind to three years earlier, Shane Mosley was still considered to be one of the top 10 pound for pound fighters in the world and was about to give the young Miguel Cotto the toughest test of his career. In a true classic, both men went back and forth for the full 12 rounds with some vicious exchanges landing on each other throughout. In the end, Cotto made some slight adjustments in the late stages of the fight turning it from a brawl to a slight boxing lesson grinding out a hard fought 12 round decision victory. So there we have it, a full recap on what happened when these two gladiators that are about to step into the ring, faced off with the same man. But if that isn’t enough, I was able to sit down with DeMarcus “Chop Chop” Corley and Zab “Super” Judah earlier today to get their thoughts on who the better fighter might be heading into the fight this Saturday night.
Felix: Who hits harder?
Judah: Cotto.
Corley: Cotto hits harder but Mayweather is more accurate.
Felix: Who has a better chin?
Judah: They both had very good chins.
Corley: Mayweather had a better chin.
Felix: Who is the tougher fighter?
Judah: Cotto was stronger at the time (that I fought them)
Corley: Mayweather is tougher.
Felix: Who is the stronger fighter as the fight progresses?
Judah: They both are, they fight until the end!
Felix: Who responded better when you hurt them?
Corley: Mayweather did, they cheated me in Puerto Rico.
Felix: Final predictions?
Judah: Tough fight, but I see Mayweather stopping him in 9 or 10, too fast and too slick!!
Corley: Mayweather wins.
So there we have it, not only do you get my opinion, but the opinion of two of the men who fought both of the fighters!