Hypothetical Boxing Preview: Cotto-Malignaggi

Full of confidence and armed with a pair of lightning quick hands, Paul Malignaggi is looking to move up the ladder in the talent rich 140 pound division, yearning for a chance to pull away from the deep pool of fighters. However, in light of a certain opponent, Malignaggi might as well be looking toward the Moon. And that opponent is none other than Puerto Rican star and undefeated WBO champion, Miguel Angel Cotto.

Coming off an easy win against Donald Camarena, the speed of Malignaggi seems like it would give a slower stalker like Cotto trouble, but the Italian – American fighter’s victory was an overrated one. Camarena was extremely inactive in the fight, refusing to throw more than a handful of punches for much of the bout and merely walking forward, chasing the faster Malignaggi around the ring like a dog following its owner.

Camarena committed one of the cardinal sins of boxing: chasing an opponent. Instead of cutting off the ring, going to the body and smothering the opponent’s punches, tactics used by effective pressure fighters, Camarena did everything opposite of that and instead chased, headhunted and tried to counter his faster adversary. When Camarena threw the rare punch, he was countered by several from Malignaggi. Ali once called Foreman “the mummy”, well in the Malignaggi-Camarena contest, the latter boxer certainly fit the description.

Against Cotto, Malignaggi should not expect another mindless mummy, because the WBO kingpin would be in his face all night, using formidable bodywork to rip the wheels off of the speedy prospect. With only five knockouts over the course of twenty one wins, Malignaggi hardly poses a threat to Cotto in terms of power. Cotto has been rocked a few times in his career but that’s mostly due to his lack of defense rather than a sensitive chin, as anyone receiving flush punches from a bomber like Ricardo Torres would be rocked.

If Malignaggi wanted to win a matchup against Cotto, Paulie would have to be on his bike every second of every round. The moment he gets in close with Cotto, he’ll have to tie up the Puerto Rican, but would most likely endure nasty body shots in the process. Because of his stalking style, Cotto doesn’t exactly have twinkle toes and would be vulnerable to a fast, sharp and talented boxer. However, Malignaggi is not that fighter.

In his win over Camarena, whenever Malignaggi was hit he panicked and ran away instead of countering. When a fighter does this, it means one thing: he can’t handle pressure. If Camarena threw more punches, he could have conceivably defeated Malignaggi, because as I’ve noted, whenever he threw some rare punches he had Malignaggi in trouble. And if a fighter panics just by being hit, that spells big trouble.

For Cotto to win, he would just need to keep doing what he’s been doing so far during his career. He’d need to keep the pressure on Malignaggi, work the body and just bully the faster fighter by cutting off the ring before unleashing his power punches. Cotto has some of the best short punches in the sport and that makes him extremely dangerous, being able to get off a lot of power with only a little room while on the inside. The left hook to the body would be Cotto’s money punch against Malignaggi.

As with most Latino fighters, Cotto has a great hook to the body, vital against a faster fighter in order to knock them off their bike. Malignaggi isn’t powerfully built, so body shots would be very effective against him. In front of a New York crowd that will inevitably be made up of Americans of Puerto Rican and Italian descent, this fight would be an electrically charged crowd pleaser should it ever take place.

Although the sport of boxing always has room for upsets, this potential future pairing smells of mismatch. Malignaggi has been fed less than amazing talent for his short career so far, and although Cotto’s opposition hasn’t been the best either, it’s certainly the more impressive. But styles make fights, and in this case, Cotto’s steady, stalking power punching body attacks spells nothing but trouble for the seemingly frail and flashy Malignaggi. Unless the Brooklynite is the real deal and his speed is faster than most think, we will see a steady beating and eventual knockout.