POISED TO BE CHAMPION By Jeff Mayweather

Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas the Boxing world witnessed its next bona fide Super Star. Miguel Cotto is the real thing. He is ready to become Champion of the World. I would favor him over almost everyone in the Jr. Welterweight Division. He has great balance, tremendous punching power and good defense. His hand speed is the only question mark with Cotto, his hand speed is good but nothing special to go along with all his other exceptional qualities.

He might can be out sped by a few of the fighters in the Jr. Welterweight division but if he catches any one of these fighters who happen to be a little bit faster than him it could spell defeat instantly via knockout. Cotto is a very conservative fighter who puts you in the mind of Alexis Arguello, very calculated with his attack, wasting little energy, and not throwing a bunch of unnecessary punches.

Saturday night the boxing world also witnessed the answer to the question always asked when a  young prospect is on the rise... Can he take a punch? ... Victoriano Sosa -who is a pretty decent puncher- caught Cotto square on the chin, although he did get a response out of him, Cotto didn't let it throw him off his game. He continued on his attack en-route to a 4th round TKO, dropping Sosa three times with a variety of punches; first with a left uppercut, second knockdown with a left jab in the midst of a combination, and the final knockdown with a left-hook to the body.

Cotto has a complete arsenal of punches and is certainly ready to challenge for a World Title; not only challenge but has a great chance of winning.  Cotto's biggest problem may be his weight even though in his post fight interview he claimed that is wasn't.

I can remember  countryman Felix "Tito" Trinidad having that same problem. He would train twice a day when he was in Vegas; his weight would escalate between 168-172 pounds and this was while he was campaigning at Welterweight (147lbs.)

Cotto is still young enough to get away with dropping large amounts of weight and still be effective;  may even give him the size advantage over his opponents at his weight class. However,  if he continues to keep himself trapped in a smaller frame than what he body is accustomed to by the  laws of nature, he might find himself weakened in the long run and it will show in his performance against the right opponent.

I think we're going to see a lot more from Miguel Cotto as he continues on his quest to a World Title, be it  at Jr. Welterweight, Welterweight or even Jr. Middleweight.

Miguel Cotto is the safest bet out there of all the young prospects coming out of the Class of 2000 Olympics. He's the one that is ready and poised to be Champion.