Alright, so I'm really pumped for this one. I'm a big Cotto fan but I've always been a realist, and I know he has had flaws in the past but I truly believe that Cotto is ready for this level of fighter. Cotto has faced someone like Judah, Carlos Quintana may not have been as fast, but he was a slick southpaw who was a hell of a lot more fundamentally solid then Zab. Just pointing that out. To date, Quintana was Cotto's peak performance.

So I'm going to go ahead and start rambling off the top of my head.

Here's what we know about Zab Judah.

He is a fast fighter, has power, comes from all different angles and he has many different ways of fighting. He can stand his and let you come to him, or he can stalk. Or he can do a little bit of both. He has a very diverse offensive game. He gets inside and outside very well. And he has a very diverse punch arsenal.

He also has a very good defense from the outside, he can pick most anything off his gloves, he's never really been hurt from a flatfooted punch thrown from the outside.

His chin, stamina, will to fight, consistency body and mind have been called into question time and time again. He doesn't fight well in transition, he exposes himself coming in and backing out. He loops his punches as he moves inside, he backs straight up when pressured and drops his hands, sometimes simultaneously. He isn't hard to hit when he's being pressured.


Judah has a lot on his plate here. He needs to keep out of the way of Miguel Cotto's shots, while still managing to win rounds. It's really a struggle of offense versus defense, something Judah has shown problems with before. In all likelyhood, Judah isn't going to be moving forward much so he has got to figure out a way to win rounds and possibly KO Cotto.

The most likely scenario and probably his best option is for him to camp on the outside, let Cotto cross the tracks and come inside and try to catch him there. If he can stun Cotto coming forward, which has been done before, then he can pounce and possibly get Cotto out of there. He can also try to come from all angles and try to back Cotto up with the jab, but backing Cotto up might be to much. So look for him to try to catch Cotto come forward.

However, Miguel is very hard to back up, he has good balance, good head movement on the outside and he throws more punches in transition now. Against Quintana, very rarely did he walk in with the ear muffs on. He put the right hand out in front a lot (which Judah has big problems with), and worked in a jab. Then once he gets on the inside he is such an explosive fighter, he has an absolutely ripping body attack and is very accurate. An excellent boxer-puncher.

He himself has stamina issues, not to the extent of Zab though, and he has been frustrated before. So that could present problems for both fighters later on in the fight but I honestly feel by that time, Zab will be in complete shut down mode. He can say he is ready for the later rounds, but it's not so much stamina as it is that he breaks down when hurt. And shockingly Zab has made no mention of that.

Honestly, it's easy to see a speed guy with power versus a power guy, but I honestly feel that Cotto is the more well rounded fighter and not only that, I think he has the stylistic advantage. I expect a BIG statement from Cotto and quite honestly, I would be shocked if anything less happens.

Cotto Decision

Cotto - Floyd 08!