Miguel Cotto planning fall return

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Miguel Cotto planning fall return
Updated: May 23, 2013, 11:13 AM ET
By Dan Rafael | ESPN.com




Miguel Cotto, the Puerto Rican superstar and former three-division titleholder, is planning on a fall return.
The target date for his return is Sept. 28, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., which would be a big deal. For years, Cotto has been a mainstay of Barclays Center competitor Madison Square Garden, where he has fought eight times since 2005 while becoming the biggest attraction in New York in years.
Golden Boy Promotions chief executive Richard Schaefer, who doesn't have a promotional deal with Cotto but has promoted his last two fights and is close to his team, told ESPN.com on Tuesday that he is holding the Barclays Center on that date for his next fight. Golden Boy has a deal with Barclays Center as its exclusive promoter for boxing events.


Schaefer emphasized that nothing had been finalized with regard to a Cotto fight, including an opponent.
"Nothing set. We are holding a date (at Barclays Center), that's all," Schaefer said.
However, it's clear that Cotto (37-4, 30 KOs), 32, intends to fight on in the wake of back-to-back losses and many physically grueling fights.
In December 2011, Cotto exacted revenge on Antonio Margarito by battering his bad eye for a 10th-round TKO in a junior middleweight title defense at Madison Square Garden. But Cotto lost his next two fights.
Last May, he lost his 154-pound title to Floyd Mayweather Jr. by unanimous decision at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Cotto gave Mayweather one of the toughest fights of his career, but was routed on the scorecards. In December, he challenged Austin Trout for his version of the junior middleweight title but lost another clear decision, the only time Cotto has lost at Madison Square Garden.

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Cotto's possible opponents
By Dan Rafael

• Victor Ortiz (29-4-2, 22 KOs): This is my pick as the fight I’d like to see most other than Alvarez. Like Cotto, Ortiz, a former welterweight titlist, is also coming off back-to-back losses, stoppages against Mayweather and Josesito Lopez, against whom he suffered a severely broken jaw last June. While recovering from the jaw injury, Ortiz did a stint on “Dancing With the Stars” but is due back in the ring, most likely in September. So the schedules match. He also can certainly handle the move up to 154 pounds and a fight with Cotto would be nothing less than exciting. No doubt there would be drama too, because both men are typically in dramatic fights. It’s a can’t miss-action fight.

• Alfredo Angulo (22-2, 18 KOs): Cotto-Angulo could not possibly miss as an exciting action fight. It would also be an authentic Puerto Rico versus Mexico rivalry fight, which always generates heat. Angulo, although dangerous because of his power, is also one-dimensional enough that Cotto would be the favorite. Angulo, of course, would have to beat Erislandy Lara on June 8, and Angulo is the clear underdog in that fight. If Lara wins, I doubt Cotto would want to tangle with Lara’s difficult technical style, especially without a world title at stake.

• ”Kid Chocolate” Peter Quillin (29-0, 21 KOs): There’s been quiet word that Cotto might want to move up to middleweight and see what he can do. Quillin holds a title, is one of boxing’s most exciting and charismatic fighters and looking for the kind of fight to help him break out. Cotto would be a big underdog, but he has always taken on big challenges so maybe he would want to take a shot. Quillin, I’m certain, would take the fight in two seconds. It would also probably sell well given Cotto’s enormous New York/Puerto Rican fanbase combined with the fact that Quillin is a New Yorker. This fight intrigues me.

• Robert Guerrero (31-2-1, 18 KOs): Sure, he was schooled by Mayweather on May 4 but so what? Guerrero is always up for fighting the best, usually involved in good fights and I think he and Cotto would be a good one. If Guerrero gets the fight, he just needs to make sure of one thing when he heads to New York -- leave the gun at home this time.

• Andre Berto (28-2, 22 KOs): The former welterweight titlist got beat up by Guerrero in a November decision loss in a great fight so he would have to beat Jesus Soto Karass, whom he meets June 27, to even have a prayer of landing the fight, although the turnaround might be a little quick, making him an unlikely foe. But if Berto looks OK against Soto Karass, why not a Cotto fight? Two big names, two action styles. Count me in.

• Ishe Smith (25-5, 11 KOs): If Cotto wants to try to pick up another 154 belt, Smith is out there. He would have to get past Carlos Molina on July 19, and coming back on Sept. 28 might be a little bit of a quick turnaround, but anything is possible. Smith is promoted by Mayweather’s company, which works closely with Golden Boy so from that point of view it is a fight that could be made. Not the best fight in the world, but not out of the realm of possibility in my view.

• Cornelius “K9” Bundrage (32-5, 19 KOs): He lost his belt to Smith in February, but it was competitive. If Cotto is looking to ease back into things and take a little bit of a lesser fight this one sticks out like a sore thumb. The 40-year-old Bundrage will come to fight but Cotto would be the favorite to win and then move into something bigger.

[Momotumbo]

I used to be a BIG Cotto Fan. But he is finished ever since he shaved his head and ridiculously tattood himself he has been going downhill. He went from a destructive body puncher to a sad story in my humble opinion. I can no longer be a Fan of his and i see no future or big purses in his future.