By Victor Salazar

New York- Miguel Cotto (40-4, 33 KO’s) embarks on possibly the most important fight of his career when he opposes the younger and bigger Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (45-1-1, 32 KO’s) on November 21th from the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Cotto will officially start camp September 28th; that’s when he and his trainer Freddie Roach will devise a game plan for such a big fight.

While the magnitude of this fight that will add to the rich legacy that is the Puerto Rico-Mexico rivalry, to Cotto it’s just another fight.

"Winning every fight is important to me.” Cotto said to BoxingScene.com in reference to the Puerto Rico-Mexico rivalry. “I know it’s going to be a tough fight on November 21th but I trust in Freddie and in myself so I know we’re going to do great. I know people were expecting this fight for a long time. I know what I need to do to win the fight and I know I belong here.

Should Cotto defeat Canelo Alvarez, it would be a fight that cements the legacy of a future hall of famer. A win over Canelo Alvarez might also bump him in the rankings of great Puerto Rican fighters.

But to Cotto, that is the furthest thing from his mind.

“I don’t fight for that,” Cotto said. “I don’t know what Puerto Rico wants to remember me for my boxing. I do this for my family and my kids and myself and that’s how I felt my whole career. Whatever people want me to be remember is where they will remember me.”

The winner of this fight has been mandated by World Boxing Council to fight the winner of the upcoming Gennady Golovkin-David Lemiuex IBO/IBF/WBA unification that happens a month prior on October 17th.

Cotto was asked if mandatories or the outcome of the first fight would dictate his next move. He responded with what he has responded to when the question was posed before.

“It’s the same answer, nobody handles Miguel Cotto’s career but Miguel Cotto.”