By Keith Idec
NEW YORK – Bob Arum and Miguel Cotto didn’t exactly part ways on great terms when Cotto signed a multi-fight contract with Jay Z’s Roc Nation Sports earlier this year.
Cotto’s split with Top Rank Inc., Arum’s promotional company, hasn’t impacted Arum’s opinion of Cotto as a fighter, though. The 83-year-old Arum thinks Cotto (40-4, 33 KOs), the four-division champion from Puerto Rico his company helped build into a star, will defeat Canelo Alvarez when they meet in a highly anticipated pay-per-view fight in the fall.
Arum cited Cotto’s marked improvement in the three fights since Freddie Roach became Cotto’s trainer as the primary reason he’ll overcome Mexico’s Alvarez (45-1-1, 32 KOs), who’s nearly 10 years younger than the 34-year-old Cotto.
“Cotto is a much better fighter now that he’s under Freddie’s tutelage than he was before,” Arum said to BoxingScene.com during an open workout for the HBO doubleheader Top Rank is promoting Saturday night in The Theater at Madison Square Garden. “I think that Canelo is a very, very hard fight. But I think having Freddie in his corner gives him the edge in the fight. Otherwise I would go with Canelo. But I think Freddie tips it the other way. It’s still a very close fight.”
Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.