Cotto Must Break Mosley

In Rocky III, Apollo Creed agrees to be Rocky Balboa's sparring partner and trainer for the fight of the century against Clubber Lang, a loudmouth, brash champion on the rampage. Apollo Creed, Balboa's former rival and ex-champion seems to bring out the best in Balboa, getting him re-focused on his inner strength and preparing him for his eventual victory against Lang. In the next installment of Rocky, Creed is savagely killed in the ring by a wrecking machine named Ivan Drago.

Earlier this year, "Sugar" Shane Mosley agreed to be his former rival, and now business associate Oscar De La Hoya's sparring partner prior to the Floyd Mayweather - Oscar De La Hoya super-fight. Apparently Mosley wasn't able to get him re-focused and prepared as Mayweather defeated De La Hoya handily by decision. On Saturday, Shane Mosley faces his next installment, in the form of wrecking machine, Miguel Cotto for Cotto's WBA Welterweight championship. Mosley should hope that the parallel does not hold true again and he isn't savagely killed in the ring by Cotto's supernatural power to the body.

Miguel Cotto (30 - 0 - 0 (25 KO)) was last seen in an eleven round TKO victory over the enigmatic Zab Judah. Judah lost the will to fight mainly due to the punishment inflicted by Cotto's body punches but also due to two vicious, yet incidental low-blows early in the fight. Ive never seen a fighter induce so many knockouts and stoppages with body punches. Although Cotto has the tendency to get hit because he is always moving towards his opponent, he never stops punching and has beaten fighters that have tried to win a defensive fight as well as those who have tried to match his aggressive style.

Shane Mosley (44 - 4 - 1 (37 KO)) stopped Fernando Vargas twice in 2006, however Vargas was clearly in the swan-song of his troubled career. Mosley has not had a signature win since beating Oscar De La Hoya for the second time in 2004. Cotto doesn't immediately seem like the type of fighter that would give Mosley trouble as Shane's losses have come to defensive fighters Winky Wright and Vernon Forrest that were able to deal with Mosley's superb hand speed. Mosley has a skill-set similar to Judah however and Cotto was able to deal with that style without much trouble in his last fight.

Cotto is nine years younger as well as a hungrier fighter who is in the prime of his career with hands made of stone. He is extremely comfortable in the ring at Madison Square Garden, winning his last two fights there decisively amid throngs of supporters from his native Puerto Rico. He is never outworked and his only weakness seems to be reach and height disadvantages caused by his Mighty Mouse stature. Mosley however wont be able to capitalize on these disadvantages fully as he is only one inch taller than Cotto. Vegas is favoring Cotto as well, offering a moneyline of around -150, and although a notorious slow starter, Cotto will prevail and it's a bet that I would surely take. Mosley has never faced someone with this type of power and will be worn down into submission like most of the other fighters that have tried to stop Cotto in the past.