Cotto is very vulnerable to the right hook, also Cotto's power hand is his left hand/hook. Roach's plan is probably for Pac to win the fight with his new beautiful right hand. Mosley's is his right hand, fast and straight, deathdealing to a southpaw. Roach don't want Pac going in with a fighter like Mosley.
Mosley at 140 (because he was willing to go down to 140) is like Oscar at 147. So what is this bruhaha about not fighting Mosley. Had Roach chosen Mosley, they could have easily go to 140 and Mosley is a goner. This is simply a Top Rank economic mechanism.
Oscar's Mexican. Everyone knows what kind of food we like to eat. We can go up in weight but not down. Mosley on the other hand is older, but the man still comes in top shape. Not saying that he could pull it off, but there's the possiblity that he might.
What are the chances that Mosley would be able to pull it off. We are talikng about a late 30's fighter who had been campaigning at 154. His last fight weighing near 140 was in 1999, 10 years ago. And Shane is not exactly a fat person that could easily loss fats and his strength would not be affected. Mosley is very muscular, and even going to 147 probably would make him loss those muscle mass, therefore less powerful.
All of the above. #1 reason though is not listed. Cotto had 1 more fight with Top Rank in his contract and Arum felt he needed to give him a big money fight to appease him and hopefully keep him with Top Rank. It's public knowledge that Cotto was upset at how Arum defended Margarito's cheating ass and made known his displeasure. Cotto was even seen golfing with De La Hoya in Puerto Rico not too long ago. Cotto has since signed the extension with Top Rank. There's talk (rumor- before people here get all emotional) at Pacland that Team Pacquiao wants to buy out the remaining contract from Top Rank, citing their displeasure of how Bob Arum has handled everything including the Mayweather talks. I guess Pac and his team listened when Floyd called Arum a thief for getting too big a percentage from Pac.
To be honest, i'm still scratching my head as to why this matchup was signed. Lets get real, pac-mayweather is THE fight that fans -casual and hardcore alike- are dying to see, and cotto could very possibly throw a wrench into that hype machine. I really dont know why cotto is being overlooked by so many here. This time last year it would have been preposterous to suggest pac-cotto was going to be made, even crazier with pac pegged as the favorite by many. Granted floyd - jmm was announced a couple of days after pac - hatton, and pac would be risking at least half a year of inactivity waiting for the winner of that bout. But surely it would have been wiser for pac to sit back and wait for the outcome than fight a young, dangerous, naturally bigger fighter? OK, cotto brings in money. But are the millions to be made against cotto worth enough to risk jeopardizing the bigger prize of a pac-floyd fight? not saying that pac - mayweather wont happen even if pac lost, but the luster of that matchup would be significantly diminished should the pac express run into the cotto boulder. This is a fight that either man DID NOT have to take at this point in time, but they did so anyway. Massive props to the winner of this bout.
other, Arum wanted this so much. beating Mosely at a catchweight will take much more criticism since Shane is much older than Cotto.