Mayweather vs Cotto: Jail Sentence Adds Fuel to the Fire for Money May

We all love a great back story in sports and Floyd Mayweather has provided us with a dandy on Cinco De Mayo.

When Money May fights Miguel Cotto on May 5^th, he will do so knowing it will be his final appearance in front of the public eye for quite some time. That’s because Mayweather will be entering a jail cell on June 1^st to serve 57 days for a domestic violence conviction.

Some may look at this as a huge distraction. After all, Mayweather is putting his incredible 42-0 record on the line, and doing so with such a huge cloud hanging over his head has to affect his performance, right?

Not with Floyd. This guy is cut from a different cloth.

He is a ruthless fighter that cares about his legacy and record more than any other boxer in the sport. His training and execution over the years proves as much. Nothing fazes this guy.

Remember in last year’s HBO 24/7 series when he was training for a fight against Victor Ortiz and a fight between Floyd and his father broke out? He threw pops out of the gym after screaming at him, and didn’t talk to him for a long time afterward.

A fallout with your father less than three weeks before a big fight? That would rattle even the strongest person. Not Floyd.

He brushed it off, KO’ed Ortiz in Round 4 and eventually made up with his father.

In other words, Mayweather doesn’t get rattled by anything in his personal life when fight night is on the horizon. That’s the big difference between Mayweather and almost every other boxer, his mental strength.

When asked about the jail sentence affecting his emotional well-being heading into the fight, Money May sounded incredibly at peace with the situation (via mlive.com):

"

My thing is I try to turn anything negative into something positive. That's what I do every day when I see my family, when I see my team, I see my fans come to support me every day, it's an emotional builder for me. So even, like, when I go away, you know, the only thing it can do is make me mentally strong, you know, grow mentally strong as a person.

"

There is no question that Mayweather has lost some of his quickness over the years; at the age of 35 it’s only natural.

What helps him in this aspect is the bump up in weight class to the WBA (Super) Light Middleweight Champion. Cotto is more of a bruiser, and that plays into Mayweather’s strength as a terrific counter-puncher.

Next week boxing fans are going to be treated to one of the best fights of the year. Just remember that the personal issues of Mayweather are going to have absolutely no impact on the bout.

Hollywood drama for HBO? Sure. But that’s where it ends.  

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