Paul Williams vs Miguel Cotto

wow nice bag of excuses there,

 

Cotto is past it in terms of his mental durability and offensive sharpness-both which look to have improved and can be tangibly worked on with a conscious effort. Despite his decline, he has reinforced his boxing fundamentals and is arguably the most technically sound he's ever been.

Williams on the other hand has a cracked chin and nothing to show for it, other than a deteriorated set of skills that see him walking into shots, holding his hands low, throwing looping shots with no return to the guard, and slappy punches with no turn over. Cotto would time him easily on the outside with the superior accuracy and movement, and on the inside, Cotto could easily sit there calmly within the clinch and land the harder, tighter punches while maintaining an actually functional guard.

Williams isn't so much about pressure as he is volume, so unless he picks up some fundamental swarming tactics, shortens up his punches, and tightens his guard, there's no reason to believe he'd hit Cotto more than he'd get hit by him.

 

:good

 

good analysis....thing is I feel Cotto is weak mentally and I'm not so sure Williams chin is as cracked as everyone thinks. Can Cotto cope with a hundred punches a round? IMO I don't think so, I think he will wilt. You're 100 percent right about Cotto being much more sound technically sound and sharper with his shots and I have no doubt he'll land some great counters on Paul but if Pauls chin holds up it'll be a bad night for Cotto. I wouldn't rule out a Cotto win but I would def put money on Paul especially since he'd have the good ods with him.

 

Blocking or slipping 100 punches would be more of a challenge, but as it stands, it would be wide 100 slaps, which he could catch on his gloves and let fall over his shorter frame in close. If he works the body good, those punches could dwindle, and if he chooses to main distance and jab & counter-punch, that number would dwindle even more. I think Cotto might even be able to smother him in the clinch at times.

Paul's a warrior and his volume can be trouble for anyone, but I don't think he's accurate enough to make Cotto work hard enough to tire to the breaking point. Paul's chin isn't as cracked as people make it seem, which is why I picked a decision win for Miguel, but I don't think he can out-land Cotto for a minimum 7 rounds. But you're right, it's competitive and Paul would have great odds on him.