MIGUEL COTTO vs PAULIE MALIGNAGGI

Miguel Cotto’s steady pressure and heavy hooking has seen him crush 22 opponents inside the distance in his 26 consecutive victories but landing his powerful punches against the stylish and speedy Paulie Malignaggi will not be easy in their junior welterweight title fight.

Malignaggi, also unbeaten, with 21 wins in a row, is outgunned in terms of firing power— he has halted only five opponents — but believes his slick boxing and savvy moves will frustrate Cotto and break him down mentally.

With Malignaggi it is all about hitting and not getting hit. Cotto’s style, he says, is to keep hitting until he knocks someone out. That is fine as far as it goes, but Malignaggi feels that Cotto is in for the worst night of his boxing life against someone who will be hitting him and making him miss.

Malignaggi told me in a phone conversation: “We’re both in our primes — to be the best you’ve got to beat the best and I feel not only is it a fight that I wanted but I also feel that he is a guy that falls into my strengths in terms of weaknesses; he’s got a lot of weaknesses that people tend to overlook because of the vicious knockouts that he has and I’m going to expose them one by one, believe me."

Cotto is the favourite but the 25-year-old champion has never met anyone quite like Malignaggi, which gives the fights its intrigue.

The 25-year-old Brooklyn challenger does not seem to be in the least intimidated. He is in good spirits because his oft-injured right hand has been giving him no trouble since he had complicated surgery last year involving the use of both artificial bone and bone grafted from the hip to strengthen the hand.

In his last fight, against the once-beaten southpaw Donald Camarena, Malignaggi threw the right hand more than I can ever remember him throwing it and, of course, he won easily. “I don’t even think about it any more when I’m in the ring sparring or fighting or training," he said of the right hand, “I just let the hand go as I choose and I don’t have a problem with it."

So we can expect to see Malignaggi using the right hand to augment his educated left jab. He might not be able to hurt Cotto but if he keeps hitting him and piling up points he might be able to discourage him.

As long as the fight is out in the middle of the ring, Malignaggi theoretically can outbox the slower and more methodical Cotto. The problem for Malignaggi will come if Cotto gets him on the ropes or in corners and bangs away. While Malignaggi outclassed Camarena and the seasoned Italian Sandro Casamonica in his two finest performances, he has never faced anyone who brings the sort of relentlessness and hard punching that Cotto does.

So far Cotto has been able to handle every style, and he has impressively overcome moments of crisis, pounding DeMarcus “Chop Chop" Corley after the southpaw wobbled him with a right hook and getting off the floor to stop the Colombian banger Ricardo Torres.

Malignaggi is capable of boxing beautifully but 12 rounds is a long way to go with a patient stalker such as Cotto. I have no doubt that Malignaggi will be able to pepper Cotto and perhaps have him perplexed in the early rounds, but unfortunately for Paulie he does not seem to have the punching power needed to keep the champion from closing the distance and eventually catching up with him.

Cotto has fought against a much high standard of opposition — Lovemore Ndou, Carlos Maussa, Kelson Pinto, Randall Bailey, Chop Chop Corley, Ricardo Torres and Mohamad Abdulaev included. In his last fight he was a wrecking machine as he beat up and overpowered the cagey Italian veteran Gianluca Branco in eight rounds. Branco’s high, European guard was no problem — Cotto simply banged him on the arms and shoulders to beat aside the veteran’s defence. Branco’s right arm was blasted out of commission, his jaw was swollen and Cotto was walking right through him when the mismatch was waved over.

There is a difference between Branco and Malignaggi, though. Branco was 35 and at the end of his career — and he has never been a quick boxer. He was the sort of opponent that you would expect Cotto to roll right over in seven or eight rounds. Malignaggi is different: young, fast, ambitious and confident — and he’s fighting at home in New York City (although the bulk of the crowd will probably be Boricua supporters of Cotto in an event that ties in with the following day’s Puerto Rican Day parade).

Malignaggi will not be right in front of Cotto, as was Branco. He will be constantly in motion, side to side, in and out. The only problem is that for all of Malignaggi’s evasiveness and talent he is not going to be able to dodge everything, and when Cotto hits him he is likely to hurt him.

I expect Cotto’s steady pursuit to bring results as the fight goes deeper. He should eventually be able to time Malignaggi’s moves and begin to slip the jab to land the hooks. I think that Cotto will get through with enough body punches and do enough damage, even if only in short bursts, to slow Malignaggi down by the later stages, and if the New Yorker finds himself backed up on the ropes I doubt that he will escape lightly.

A quick win by Cotto is unlikely but I do see him gradually taking away Malignaggi's legs with body punches and then overpowering him late in the fight, with the stoppage coming some time between the ninth and 12th rounds.