I'm a fairly new boxing fan, so maybe there's an obvious answer so excuse my ignorance but how come neither of these guys ever fought Mayweather? They all share some common opponents but neither Cotto or Margarito, when they were on top, ever fought Mayweather. How come?
See the Mayweather Defence League got in quick here. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_BWElcszSY[/ame]
The reason Mayweather opted for the buyout rather than waiting for the May 6 result was because the contract had a limited window for the buyout, one that expired before the De La Hoya fight. However, Arum said he would have extended the window if Mayweather had asked. What Arum wouldn't do, he said, was raise the guarantees for other fights outlined in the contract. Arum said while Mayweather would have taken the $8 million to fight Margarito, he asked for a $10 million guarantee to fight opponents such as Miguel Cotto and Ricky Hatton, when Arum was only willing to guarantee $7 million. Arum said Mayweather also asked for $20 million to fight De La Hoya, a fight Arum said he wasn't interested in participating in. "That's not in the cards," Arum said. "He wants $20 million for the De La Hoya fight? It's not there. Sometimes, my man, you gotta know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em. We'll talk about things down the road." Ellerbe said Mayweather opted for the buyout so he could be "more in control of when and who he fights next. It's as simple as that. There is nothing bad between Floyd and Bob." Arum agreed that the split with Mayweather was not on bad terms like their brief breakup last year. In fact, Arum said, "We intend to be back together. Everything with this was honorable and good. I had offered him numbers [for a multi-fight contract extension] that were livable. His expectations are in the stratosphere. He was entitled to buy me out, and he did. We decided this was the best way to handle it. He is a free agent. We have agreed to work with each other [in the future]." The split frees Mayweather to make a potential deal with De La Hoya without Arum as part of the promotion. His involvement would have made making a deal almost impossible: The head of Top Rank has openly feuded with De La Hoya, his former superstar, and their companies rarely do business together as a result. Arum said he was simply not interested in participating in a De La Hoya-Mayweather fight, but not because of his distaste for De La Hoya. "I don't want to, because if I did that fight, I would be working for such a small percentage, it's not worth it," he said. :thumbsup
Regardless of previously failed talks with Arum due to his "greenness", Cotto was more then ready after his lead up to the Mosley fight and just after it, and Margarito was a hot product at the time as well. When asked about them after beating Hatton, Floyd said "I'm not callin out no welterweights right now", and retired. That to me bears more fault than anything that could have happened prior.
Margarito really could've fought Floyd but Floyd wanted Baldomir(for the WBC belt) and I think he got more money from that fight than he would've from a Margarito fight. Would've preferred him to face Margarito and/or Williams though. Cotto didn't want it It does look bad on Mayweather's part that he retired while the division heated up but maybe he needed that rest for the long run. Sad that he's held to such a high standard that he'll never get the true respect for who he faces until after his career.