Jesus H. Christ. I just witnessed the equivalent of Charlie Zelenoff sparring with the 2000 version of Sugar Shane Mosley. What an ass kicking......
Harold Weston was ALOT slicker then Cotto and you saw what happened to Weston against Cuevas. Pre-Hearns Cuevas was a wreaking machine who broke bones.Cotto would do well until he feels the power of Cuevas.And don't forget Cuevas can throw to the body. Cuevas would beat the holy hell out of Cotto.Mosley not sure but Shane likes to trade too much and if Cuevas catches him hes done.
Cotto can win. His skill-set and defensive abilty is a bit underrated (he doesn't get hit that much when he's in boxer mode), he hits damned hard and Cuevas, while a harder puncher, doesn't apply the same type of high volume attack that Margarito implimented to eventually wear down his opponent. Cotto can do this if he gets his respect early and manages to minimize exchanges and use his jab to control distance. This isn't impossible. But I don't think it would happen. At some point, I think Cuevas is going to connect with enough big punches to damage Cotto in some way as to prevent him from throwing anything big back in return for fear of getting caught. At some point, Cotto is going to bust up, and allow Cuevas to come forward, find his range, and connect with something else that will eventually force a stoppage. It won't be easy, and Pipino will almost certainly have to come from behind on the cards, imo...But at this point, I think that's the way this fight goes down.
I think Cuevas would win on points after hurting Cotto around the 6th round Miguel is on survival mode. I say points because we've never seen Miguel genuinely decked and he seems to have great powers of recovery, and Juan Manuel marquez is often given praise for this so I will lend it to Cotto as well. Over 12 rounds, Cuevas 116-111 (he drops Cotto in the 8th but it's at the end of the round :good)
What am I talking about, Cuevas smashes Cotto to bits when he hurts him in the 6th, there's no point lieing. Cotto takes a knee after left hook that forces him back against the ropes, and doesn't get back up. He seems like a smart fighter does Cotto, and one left from Cuevas would bring all the pain 11 rounds with Margacheateo gave him.
Cuevas was not just heavy handed, he was heavy armed and heavy shouldered and heavy all over. When he hit you it was with his whole body, they looked like arm punches but when they connected they seemed to literally dent his opponents faces. Like they had been hit with a car. remember the Margarito-Cuevas thread a few months back :rofl