With time working against him and his May date, Floyd Mayweather has finally selected his opponent; the illustrious and ever humble Miguel Cotto. These two men are two of the three biggest names and thus attractions in Boxing and their meeting will undoubtedly be watched by many. Both will achieve great paydays. For Cotto, maybe his largest to date.

So there is much to look forward to.

Clearly, despite their star power, neither men are in their absolute primes but no matter. They will arrive in the ring as the professionals they are, prepared as always for giving their best efforts.

As with all such high profile later stage fights, we should expect their respective constuencies to be out in force with Miguel wearing the white hat and Floyd being Floyd. If we are fortunate, we will see much and learn all the more exactly where both men are in the arc of their careers.

But what exactly will we see. When we last saw Cotto he was avenging one of his two defeats; a bad one at the hands of Antonio Margarito. Cotto won that fight with aplomb but there are some, arguably the minority, who believed that had the fight gone on longer, the result may have been different. Personally, credit due where credit is due. Miguel Cotto took the fight that haunted him and he won. Period.

Floyd was last seen dominating a mentally 'challenged' but otherwise game Victor Ortiz in his second fight at welterweight. The bigger Ortiz was game until the screws in his head loosened and he used it's housing to try to change the trajectory of a fight he was going to lose no matter.

The problem, given how absurdly that fight ended, is that we saw too little. Certainly we saw a shutout being pitched against a top prospect but we never saw the complete game. And given Floyd's age and the rarity of his appearances, we would have been better served watching him go longer and deep.

I cannot speak for you gentlemen and ladies but I cannot see how a Cotto who struggled with Clottey and was absolutely destroyed within twelve by Pacquaio (over two years ago, no less) will fare any better. I can say I hope so but that and a few Benjamins aren't getting me to Vegas to see the fight.

I am both a critic and a great admirer of Cotto so I wish him well. But the realist in me says not bloody likely.

Lastly, the all mighty dollars aside (and there will be many), I cannot see exactly what Floyd can accomplish fighting this version of Cotto as compared to say ... a prime Cotto four or so years ago. Beating Miguel is beating Miguel but as Floyd likes to say, why should he fight someone else's leftovers. Cotto can be called many things....but no one can call him fresh. Or prime.

What say you?

Hey folks, it's here! The Southpaw Striking Guide is my commitment to putting together the most comprehensive free material on fighting as or against a southpaw.

With the growing number of southpaws coming to kickboxing, boxing and MMA it is unacceptable that their is such a dearth of material available on the web or in print and www.fightsgoneby.com is committed to changing that.

http://www.fightsgoneby.com/2012/01/southpaw-striking-guide-part-1-advanced.html

Please head over and if you like it:
- Bookmark Fights Gone By
- Recommend Fights Gone By on Facebook, Twitter, Google plus and so on.
- Use our brand new DONATE button to help make my mission to bring the best analysis and instruction on the net for free easier!

As always, all feedback is welcome and encouraged!

Cheers,
Jack Slack

First thing, If I'm going over old ground here, I apologise.

But, as I watched Carl Frampton v Kris Hughes earlier today, it got me thinking about the way this fight ended. The Sky team were just beginning to suggest that Frampton should apply more pressure or up his game, then.... Boom! 'that" punched landed. That one single shot ended the fight, it was a fight altering punch or in fact, a fight ending punch. So, fellow BLHers, who else had that single one punch which altered or ended a fight?

Amidst yet another Mayweather vs Pacquiao saga, which will probably end with the 2 not fighting once again, i look back in Boxing and ask, was it easier to set up fights between rivals before?

Case in point, Benn and Eubank

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CO-jsOiJfxs&feature=related

I mean, could you even fathom something like this happening between Pacquiao and PBF? In the video, it's clear both fighters want nothing else but to just have a ruck, and unlike those HBO videos the hate here is clearly genuine, they aren't sitting on chairs the wrong way or anything

Ofcourse, other fights around the time didn't occur, for example, neither Benn or Eubank fought Jones or Toney but so many fighters in the particular weight class seemed fine with fighting each other. Rightly so IMO, it's crazy that in a SPORT called BOXING, the boxing can come second to money

Well what do you guys think, was it easier to establish fights between rivals than now?

PS, just lol at Eubank and 'parliamentary procedure'

via www2.pictures.zimbio.com

Here is a picture of Prince Naseem Hamed, he is very large. Despite in interviews saying he'll come back to the ring, obviously this man will never make weight again. What are other fighters that just ballooned, and ballooned, and ballooned until they are almost unrecognizable? It's amazing this guy ever made Bantamweight, because frankly he's gotta be nearing 250 pounds. I'm actually surprised Hatton isn't this big yet, but only time can tell.

Is there any sport better than boxing when it comes to nicknames? Boxing nicknames, many of which are alarmingly indistinguishable from WWE fare, can be categorized in any number of ways, such as:

• Euphonius (Jersey Joe Walcott)
• Oxymoronic (Merciless Ray Mercer)
• Overstated (Michael "Second To" Nunn)
• Iconic (Gentleman Jim); and
• Unnecessary (Big George Foreman).

Simpler still, they typically fall into one of three broad types:

• Nicknames that lead (Iron Mike Tyson)
• Those that form a middle name (Darnell "The Ding-a-Ling Man" Wilson); and
• Appellations that stand alone (The Atomic Bull)

Needless to say, Oliver McCall, the aforementioned Atomic Bull, would have been far better dubbed The China Syndrome, but I digress.

Choosing your favorite boxing nickname is akin to choosing the prettiest woman at a beauty contest. It's impossible, subjective, and arbitrary . . . yet it must be done! Please cast your vote for the best in show below and share any gems that are missing.

As a relatively new boxing fan, the idea of home and home fights such as the ones being proposed between Froch and Bute strikes me as extremely odd. If one bloke completely creams the other ie. a dominating performance resulting in wide UD or KO, what would be the point of repeating a fight when the match-up is completely uneven. Alternatively, if the fight is an absolute bore and no-one cares to see it again then interest in a second fight would be low. I reckon a better way of doing it would be to stick a clause in the contracts ordering an immediate rematch in case of a controversial or close fight, although i dunno who would decide that. Is it something that has been done before? If so did that turn out to be a successful format?

If the rematch between Lamont Peterson and Amir Khan can't be made, and all indications suggest that it probably won't be made, at least not at the 140 pound limit, then Amir Khan will most likely pursue opponents in the welterweight division. One name was thrown out there as a possible Khan opponent and that was ageless blunder Shane Mosley. Now, I say "blunder" in my description of his recent outing against the two best pound for pound fighters in the world. One shouldn't dismiss losing to the two best fighters in the world; however the way in which Mosley lost is another story. Against Mayweather he looked old, shot, and stiff, against Pacquiao he had some early moments but soon realized it's better to avoid confrontation than to be on the receiving end of a Manny Pacquiao knockout punch.

The idea of a Khan/Mosley fight doesn't sit well with me for obvious reasons, chief among them being the fact that Shane Mosley hasn't looked impressive since he destroyed Antonio Margarito. Now, Margarito was made for Mosley stylistically but the same cannot be said for Amir Khan. Khan would use his speed and combinations to overwhelm Mosley and if you thought he looked old compared to a 34 year old Floyd Mayweather and a 32 year old Manny Pacquiao, one could imagine how ancient he'd look compared to the 25 year old from Bolton. I'd much rather Khan make his welterweight debut against the winner of the Andre Berto/Victor Ortiz rematch, or perhaps the winner of Kell Brook/Matthew Hatton, which in all honesty makes the most sense because it’s an all British affair. Don't forget you have the winner of Devon Alexander/Marcos Maidana as well.

Whatever happens I just hope Shane Mosley isn't involved because the time has come for accepting the obvious really. Mosley is beyond any stretch of a notion of being a serious contender much less one half of a major important fight in boxing. His name alone gets him the opportunity to hang around and call out guys like Canelo Alvarez but if he loses his next fight against whomever, no doubt a big name, then his name will have lost its negotiating power. Once again I hope this fight doesn't happen because it would be a complete waste of money and would have Amir Khan running through yet another expired former champion (i.e. Zab Judah).

My guess is they want Khan to look good against Mosley to make a statement at the new weight; the fight would be in Khan's back yard as a bone for not landing the rematch with Lamont Peterson. All in all this bodes well for Amir Khan who wants to reestablish himself as one of the rising super stars in boxing. I just feel as though reestablishing himself against Shane Mosley is the wrong way to go for Khan. I know it's Shane Mosley, but it's not the Shane Mosley from the early 2000s.

Las Vegas, NV 24 Jan 2012

Sources close to the Floyd Mayweather camp leaked news today that negotiations have broken down for a May 5 bout with 80-year-old HBO boxing analyst Larry Merchant for Mayweather's unified Cheap Shot title. Mayweather, coming off consecutive beatings of the mother of his children and the hapless Victor Ortiz, is said to have torpedoed the deal when he realized that to fight Merchant would invalidate his claim that Merchant cannot be a boxing expert because he's never been in a fight before.

Merchant, for his part, is claiming victory. "Fifty years ago I would have kicked his ass," he said. "Today he's running from me faster than you can say Pacquiao. I'll give him this, however: he is a man of conviction."

Mayweather and Pacquiao have taken centre stage in the discussion of important fights that will probably never happen. However, Scott's article about Rigondeaux and Donaire and Garcia's comments afterwards have led me to believe that this is another great fight that we will probably never see.

We have discussed many important fights that did not happen in the past, but can you take out your magic 8 balls and see which fights turn up this:

via blogs.wickedlocal.com

I'm also curious to see which rising stars you think will avoid the best or most intriguing match up, either because of promoter conflicts or because they will protect and pad their records as much possible.