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Miguel Cotto repeatedly said that all is well now after his brutal loss to Antonio Margarito last year. As they say, there’s always a first time for everything. It was the first time that Miguel Cotto lost and got knocked out in his pro career.

While the biggest fight of his life is just a few ticks away, there have been a lot of rumors and all these talk that Cotto is still hounded by the not so distant past. Freddie Roach publicly cited that it’s really difficult to get over that first loss and first knock out. It’s a tough pill to swallow, he added.

In contrast, Joe Santiago, Cotto’s trainer, insisted that Miguel Cotto’s past two performances against Michael Jennings and Joshua Clottey are indications that his prized ward has totally recovered from it.

On fight night, we will all know the answers of these careless whispers.

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As the Pacquiao – Cotto megafight in Las Vegas, Nevada approaches, many boxing gurus express their views regarding this duel. At one time, Nacho Beristain, the legendary trainer who has worked on the opposite corner of Pacquiao for three fights, said that the “Pacman” will prevail over the Puerto Rican boxing hero.

One thing that Beristain pointed out would be the edge of Manny Pacquiao is the horror that still hounds Miguel Angel Cotto of his brutal loss to Antonio Margarito of Mexico back in July 26, 2008. I’m one of those who share the same belief with the legendary trainer.

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Prior to Cotto’s fight against Margarito, I was so impressed with the former as he commanded a 32-0-0 record with 26 KOs. In fact, I was rooting for him in his fight against the “Tijuana Tornado”. He was already looking forward to share the same status with the likes of Wilfred Benitez, Hector Camacho, Felix Trinidad and other great Puerto Rican boxers. On fight night, however, Cotto could not withstand the relentless pressure of Margarito in the later rounds. Cotto was clearly ahead on points in the early going but lost steam towards the end that led to his devastating TKO defeat in the 11^th round. It was one of the most brutal fights I ever watched with Cotto on the losing end.

With that, I think Margarito took something out Cotto that until now the horror of that devastating defeat still hounds Miguel Angel.

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Now that the Juan Manuel Marquez – Floyd Mayweather, Jr. fight is over, it seems that there are more questions raised than answered. Yes, we’ve seen how Floyd Jr. fared excellently against Juan Manuel, outboxing the Mexican warrior in every angle and showing his impenetrable defense, but we have also seen the size difference between the two. 

On paper, it’s obvious that Marquez has no chance of beating Mayweather. Floyd Jr. is a natural 147 pounder who fought once at 154 lbs. with Dela Hoya on May 2007. In contrast, Marquez is a natural lightweight who has never gone beyond his limit prior to the fight. That fight was a product of poor ‘matching’. Though the contract was signed at a catch weight of 144 pounds, Floyd came to the weigh-in at 146 lbs.  He preferred to pay the $300,000 per pound excess penalty than to risk his name. What if Mayweather played fair at the weigh in? Do you think he had enough time to rehydrate himself on the fight night?  What if he chose to face a quality opponent of his size? Does Mayweather vs. Pacquiao make sense?

The only time in my life that I’ll be convinced that Mayweather can unseat Pacquiao as the number one pound for pound in boxing is when he takes on guys with the likes of Shane Mosley, Antonio Margarito and Paul Williams and beats them badly. Taking on guys of his size, that is. Floyd’s victory over Juan Manuel doesn’t make sense. He just lived up to his name ‘Money’.