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The blueprint for how to defeat Floyd Mayweather was laid down by Jose Luis Castillo 10 years ago: Back Mayweather to the ropes and keep him pinned there as much as possible. Work to the body. Keep him pinned, keep him pressured.
For the best part of 8 rounds, Miguel Cotto did just that. He tucked his chin, pumped his jab, and used his left hook to keep Mayweather in front of him. He threw combinations, digging to the body.
He kept trying, kept plugging away, he bloodied Mayweather's nose, and in the eighth he launched a sustained assault that had the Puerto Rican crowd roaring. For the first time in a decade, Floyd Mayweather was in a fight.
Cotto was following the Castillo plan to perfection, and then some. There was just one problem. Jose Luis Castillo lost that fight. And so, in the end, did Miguel Cotto.By the twelfth, Cotto needed a knockout, but it was Mayweather who closed the show, rocking Cotto with a series of combinations.
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