Now that we aren’t going to get the fight that we wanted, at least for now anyway, because Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather have chosen to go in different directions, we’re left with two other fights instead: Pacquiao vs. Bradley and Mayweather vs. Cotto.

Since 2009, Pacquiao and Mayweather have been constantly compared to each other in many areas. Time and time again, the same questions have been asked in regards to both men, such as: Who’s the better fighter? Who’s the bigger draw? Who’s the bigger star? Who generates more revenue? So on and so forth. Now that they both will be involved in separate match ups, within a month a part of each other this Spring, another question can be asked: Which fight is better? I guess you can say that each fight is intriguing in its own way for different reasons.

Mayweather, who for the most part has generally been considered a small welterweight, will be moving up to the junior middleweight division to challenge Cotto for his WBA title. The last time Mayweather has fought at this weight was back on May 5, 2007 when he faced Oscar De La Hoya in a PPV record breaking fight for Oscar’s WBC Title. Floyd weighed in at 150 pounds for that fight and on fight night he entered the ring at that same weight as opposed to De La Hoya, who weighed in at 154 pounds and on fight night weighed 165 pounds. Floyd won the title and immediately vacated it and went back down to welterweight, a weight that he’s fought at ever since. Cotto is now a full fledged junior middleweight and has been at this weight for almost two years now. After suffering defeats to both Antonio Margarito and Manny Pacquiao, he has since revived his career and has become a champion once again. Cotto looks and appears to be much stronger at 154 pounds. Although Cotto may not be as technically skilled as Mayweather, he still poses very good boxing skills in his own right. He has a great jab as well, which is something that troubled Mayweather in the De La Hoya fight. If you take the combination of Cotto’s size, skill, and excellent jab it could equate to a pretty tough match up for Mayweather. He may not win the fight, but he could prove to be a lot better than the six to one underdog that the odds makers have him listed as.

Timothy Bradley may not be a walk in the park either for Manny Pacquiao. Bradley will be the first undefeated fighter that Pacquaio has fought since 2007. He may also be the fastest opponent that Pacquiao has faced. It can be argued that he may be the most athletic as well. In recent years Pacquaio has been criticized for fighting opponents who were no longer in their prime or were coming off losses and unimpressive performances. This won’t be the case when he fights the twenty eight year old WBO Junior Welterweight Champion Timothy Bradley. A lot of people are suggesting that this could be an ugly fight because of Bradley’s aggressive, mauling style as well as the frequent head butts that have occurred in his fights in the past but because he likes to come forward and be aggressive, this fight could be fun to watch. It will be interesting to see if Pacquaio can time and hit the very quick Bradley when he tries to get inside. Bradley does not posses the same counter punching style as Marquez does, so we should see a different fight. I suspect that Pacquiao won’t have to go looking for him in this fight.

Which fight looks to be the better match up is debatable. Both Pacquiao and Mayweather will be faced with a different set of challenges in each of their fights. We may not have gotten the “Superfight” that we wanted, but we still have two pretty good fights to watch in the Spring.

Joe Habeeb