By Mark Vester

There are some strange reports coming out of the popular Puerto Rican paper, El Nuevo Dia. The first is claiming that Ricardo Mayorga (29-6, 23 KOs) has signed a contract to fight Miguel Cotto (31-0, 25 KOs) on July 19 with HBO pay-per-view televising. The information is coming from Mayorga himself, who may be telling the truth or simply hyping himself in position for a fight with Cotto.

"It's already official.  I have signed a contract from Don King to fight with Cotto and I am going to knock out him in three or four rounds," Mayorga said. "The fight will be on the third Saturday of July.  I am going to dethrone Cotto and take his title."

Mayorga says that he currently weights 165-pounds and can easily make the welterweight limit. Mayorga has not fought at 147-pounds since a decision loss to Cory Spinks in 2003, but says he can make 147 with ease. He last fought at 166-pounds, winning a decision over Fernando Vargas. 

"I can make 147-pounds without problems," Mayorga said. "Cotto cannot run. If he runs he will fall in one or he can fight he can fall in two or three. I've had bigger wins at 147-pounds."

Cotto is set to fight Alfonso Gomez on April 12 in Atlantic City. It's been said by numerous sources, that should Cotto win, he would then face the winner of the rematch between IBF champion Kermit Cinton and Antonio Margarito, which is scheduled for the co-feature position on the same card.

And that's not all.

The other report, revealed that Francisco Espinoza, the co-manager of Margarito, has been in contact with the WBO and trying to push for a fight between Margarito and the new WBO welterweight champion, Carlos Quintana.

It's been reported that Cintron-Margarito is a done deal for the April 12 date, but Espinoza told the paper the fight is not a done deal. Margarito is rated at number-one by the WBO in the welterweight rankings.

Dissecting the conversation between Espinoza and the paper, it appears that he is trying to line up a fight with Quintana as a backup in case Cintron pulls out of the fight or the deal is not to their liking.

"What happened is we have a tentative fight on that date (April 12) and they still haven't made an agreement with us," Espinoza said. "In winning, Quintana inherited the mandatory commitment to fight Margarito. We will be happy with either of those two fights."

Send News Tips and Comments To Mark Vester @ boxingscene@hotmail.com