Mayweather vs. Cotto: Official Announcement of Fight Deflates Boxing World

So it’s official: Floyd Mayweather’s next opponent will be Miguel Cotto on May 5^th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Whoopee.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission voted 5-0 on Wednesday to grant Money May a one-fight license. Mayweather (42-0, 26 KO) will be moving up a weight class to junior middleweight in the 154-pound division to face Cotto (37-2, 30 KO). He hasn’t fought at that weight since beating Oscar De La Hoya in May of 2007.

This is not the fight the boxing world wants to see. Today’s news has been met with more groans than cheers.

We all want Mayweather to fight Manny Pacquiao and we are not getting it. It’s an ongoing saga that has been hyped to death despite nothing coming to fruition.

Boxing promoters have teased us to the point of feverish excitement and have disappointed everyone once again. It’s like asking for a PlayStation 3 for three consecutive birthdays only to get a PlayStation 2 and GameCube instead.

Sure it’s fun and will provide entertainment, but it’s not a PS3.

That’s how I feel about Mayweather-Cotto. It’s just not the same.

Cotto already has been KO’ed by Pac-man and is good enough to beat everybody else. He’s a top-five boxer, but not in the top two.

Mayweather and Pacquiao are the top two…in some order. What’s that order?

That’s the million, well, $50 million question.

Mayweather spoke kindly of Cotto, but he couldn’t help but show his displeasure for denying fans another opportunity to face Pacquiao:

Whether that’s true or not, both boxers had agreed to random blood and urine samples and it appeared that the final hurdles had been cleared. Instead, boxing fans are once again reduced to a great fight, but not an epic one.

There is only one fight that can force casual fans to care about the sport again and the longer the two parties go without an agreement the further boxing fades into obscurity.

This is more than just one fight between the two greatest boxers of this generation; this is about revitalizing a dying sport.

Has the plug been pulled? Right now it’s hanging by a thread as the casual fans continues to be phased out.