Miguel Cotto- 31-0 (25KOs)
Miguel Cotto, born on 29th October in Peurto Rico, is a professional boxer and is a two-weight world champion. He is the former WBO Light-Welterweight title holder, and current WBA Welterweight champion.
Cotto had a succesfful amateur career which climaxed at the Sydney Olympics Games in 2000. Cotto qualified successfully, but lost in the first round. In Febuary 2001, Cotto decided to leave the amateur ranks to start fighting in the pro's. He won his professional debut by 1st round TKO, he then went undefeated in his first 20 professional fights, scoring 17 KOs and beating highly regarded fighters such as Carlos Maussa, Victorino Sosa & Lovemore N'Dou. Cotto then fought for the vacant WBO Light-Welterweight title against Kelson Pinto, which he won via convincing 6th round TKO.
In his first defence he beat Randall Bailey (TKO6), and then fought Demarcus Corley. This was a tough fight for Cotto, in which he was hurt badly on a couple of occasions and in serious trouble. Cotto pulled through to stop Corley in the 5th round, there were question marks over Cotto's punch resistance however. Later that year, Cotto fought hard punching Colombian, and reigning WBO champion, Ricardo Torres. In an FOTY contender, Cotto was seriously hurt on several occasions, and was knocked down for the first time in his career. Torres also tasted the canvas, and in the 7th round Cotto finished Torres to win the fight. His next defence was a convincing win against Gianluca Branco in Peurto Rico, in which he won via 8th round TKO.
Miguel Cotto's final fight at 140lbs was against small, slick fighter Paulie Malignaggi. In another very entertaining fight, the soft punching Malignaggi chose to trade with Cotto at times making for an action packed bout. Cotto was too strong and punched a bit too hard for Malignaggi, Paulie was down in the second and Cotto won by the scores of 116-111, 116-111 & 115-112. Cotto was really struggling to make the weight, so he decided to step up to Welterweight (147lbs) and fight for the vacant WBA Welterweight title against fellow Peutro Rican Carlos Quintana. Quintana was also undefeated, in 23 fights, and this was another great fight. Quintana has some success in the early rounds, however after 5 punishing rounds Quintana quit on his stool. Cotto was ahead of the scorecards at the time, and was now the WBA Welterweight champion.
Cotto's first defence of his title was in Peutro Rico, against former champion Otkay Urkal. Cotto was in charge of the bout from start to finish, and was well ahead on all three of the judges scorecards when he stopped Urkal in the 11th round. Cotto's next fight was his biggest to date, in June 2007 he fought Zab Judah at Madison Square Garden. In another awesome, action-packed fight Judah had some success early on, before fading in the middle rounds. Some people attributed this to a low blow done by Cotto, however it is more likely Cotto's power punches and superior stamina caught up with Zab as the fight went on. Cotto was ahead on all the judges cards before stopping Judah in the 11th round.
In November, Miguel Cotto fought 'Sugar' Shane Mosley again at Madison Square Garden in one of the most eagerly anticipated match-up's of 2007. In an excellent bout, with most fighters boxing superbly and trading punches, the fight was very even throughout. Cotto controlled the fight with an excellent jab, and worked off it. Mosley landed some good power punches, allowing Cotto to prove his punch resistance is much improved at 147lbs. In the end, Cotto was abit too much for the older Mosley and pulled out a well-earned decision. The fight was close, but also a clear victory for Cotto. Two of the judges scored it 115-113, while the other had it 116-113 all in favour of Cotto.
Miguel Cotto is now considered by many as a top 10 P4P fighter, and is ranked #7 on The Ring's P4P list. Cotto's next scheduled fight is on April 12th, against former star of 'The Contender' Alfonso Gomez. He is expected to fight the winner of Cintron/Margarito II in a unification bout later in the year, and then fight Floyd Mayweather in a mega-fight in early 2009.
Miguel Cotto Fighter Information
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