Mayweather and Cotto Won't Blink in Trying to Look for An

Mayweather and Cotto won’t blink in trying to look for an edge and an outcome LAS VEGAS – Floyd Mayweather Jr. generated cheers, boos and even a reaction from the stoic Miguel Cotto after a stare down Friday that lasted longer than anybody can remember in a ritual that has followed weigh-ins for as long as there has been an opening bell. For 70 seconds, they looked into each other’s eyes, maybe looking for a weakness or maybe looking for another clue to the outcome of Saturday night’s junior- middleweight fight at the MGM Grand. Those dangerous eyes stayed locked, without a single blink, like lasers onto a target in a break from expectation and perhaps a sign that the Mayweather-Cotto fight will end in a surprise. The biggest, of course, would be a Cotto victory. That’s the most unlikely outcome. Mayweather leaves very little to chance. Proof of that is in his unbeaten record (42-0, 26 KOs). He picks his opponents these days. In fact, he hires them, which helps explain why he will collect a $32 million before anybody even begins to count his cut of the pay-per- view revenue, concessions and ticket sales. According to contracts filed with the Nevada State Athletic Commission, Cotto (37-2, 30 KOs) will get $8 million. Not bad, but it’s a fraction, a quarter, of the record guarantee that further confirms Mayweather’s nickname, Money. Maybe, that’s why Mayweather has been acting as cool and calm as any CEO with Wall Street-like wages already in his wallet. For him, there have been no worries. He weighed in at 151 pounds, his heaviest ever and one more than his official weight before his victory over Oscar De La Hoya in 2007. “I feel comfortable at any weight,’’ Mayweather said. Cotto was three pounds heavier at 154, the junior-middleweight mandatory. No matter what the scale, the hired help is never supposed to have an advantage, no matter how minimal. From Mayweather’s perspective, Cotto looked as if he had struggled to make weight. “He looked kind of dry, kind of drawn to me,’’ he said. If anything, Cotto looked out of character after stepping off the scale and onto a side of the stage for a stare down that almost lasted past sundown. He started talking at Mayweather. From a man whose meals outnumber his words over any given day, it was unusual. “I told him, he has never faced anybody like Miguel Cotto,’’ the Puerto Rican said. “That’s the reason he’s undefeated and that’s the reason I will win on Saturday night.’’ The unusual stare down was punctuated by a backstage controversy that erupted behind curtains that hid the scale from the weigh-in crowd of about 6,000. Mayweather and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, who faces Shane Mosley on the undercard, will have to get new gloves for Saturday night’s fight. The gloves they had planned to wear included thumbs made in plastic. Mosley trainer Nazim Richardson said that plastic cuts more easily than leather. Richardson spotted plaster-like inserts in the gloves Antonio Margarito tried to wear before he lost to Mosley in 2009. When Richardson complains about gloves, regulators listen. The Nevada Commission ordered that Mayweather and Alvarez get gloves with thumbs made in leather. New Grant-made gloves are expected to arrive in Las Vegas from New York some time before Saturday night’s card. What else can happen? Anything. Everything, said Cotto, who was asked whether his best chance at upset rested with his proven arsenal of body punches. “I can’t just go to the body,’’ he said. “I have to be on top of everything. “If he wants to fight, I’m ready. If he wants to run, I’m ready for that. I’m ready for everything.’’ Mosley (46-7-1, 39 KOs) wasn’t ready for the scale. At least, not the official one. He was a half-pound heavier than the mandatory 154 for his shot at the World Boxing Council junior- middleweight title held by Alvarez (39-0-1, 29 KOs). After a run, he returned to the scale an hour later and made weight. “I was on weight, but on a different scale,’’ Mosley said. “I ran, sweated it off. No problem.’’ The 21-year-old Alvarez, who is 19-years younger than Mosley, had no problem in his first trip to the scale. He was 154 pounds. In a welterweight bout on the HBO telecast, Jessie Vargas (18-0, 9 KOs) of Las Vegas weighed 146 pounds. Steve Forbes (35-10, 11 KOs), also of Las Vegas, was 146.5. In the first bout on the pay-per-view telecast, junior-middleweight DeAndre Latimore was 154.5 pounds and Carlos Quintana (28-3, 22 KOs) was at 154..

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