WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (39-4, 32 KOs) is rumored to face former two-division world champion Timothy Bradley (31-1-1, 12 KOs) on 13 June in New York. However, this bout will only take place if Floyd Mayweather Jr. does not fight Manny Pacquiao on 2 May.
If that fight falls through, as it has for the past 1,800 days, the 34-year old Cotto is expected to fight Mayweather in a rematch. Some may not find Cotto-Bradley to be a PPV worthy fight, as Bradley is coming off a 12-round split draw in his last outing against Diego Chaves, although most people saw Bradley dominating the fight.
No matter how you slice it, Bradley looked execrable in the second-half of the fight, a trait that has unfortunately followed him since his first fight with Manny Pacquiao. If these two get together in the ring for the 160 lb title, it will be iniquitous for boxing.
First of all, neither one of these guys have fought at the middleweight limit of 160. Now, Cotto did fight at a catchweight to earn his title against Sergio Martinez, but it was not a significant factor. The bigger factor in that fight was the cruddy condition Martinez, instigated by knee injuries and a gift decision against Martin Murray; as a result, Martinez was in a lose-lose situation come 7 June 2013.
Top Rank has a history of pitting their fighters against each other, which is perhaps a reason why Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao have never fought and probably never will. If this fight does happen; which I hope it does not, the catchweight would probably have to be around 155-156 lbs.
I feel that a fight at junior middleweight or middleweight will be a close fight either way. Bradley wins at 154, but a middleweight fight would certainly be a test, a test that I think would end with Bradley getting stopped.
With the sport being heavily criticized as it is for, not putting on the best possible fights over the years, this is only going to add more fuel to the fire. If Miguel Cotto is serious about being considered a ‘legitimate’ middleweight champion, he should consider fighting guys like Gennady Golovkin, Andy Lee, Peter Quillin, Canelo Alvarez, etc. Cotto is a future Hall of Famer, and the last thing he needs to do is become the David Haye of the middleweight division.
