By Keith Idec
NEW YORK — Miguel Cotto wasn’t as colorful as his promoter on the topic, but the WBA super welterweight champion didn’t like the way Floyd Mayweather Jr. defeated Victor Ortiz on Saturday night, either.
Cotto didn’t call Mayweather’s winning left-right combination “a cheap [bleeping] shot,” yet when asked if he thought Mayweather should’ve hit an unsuspecting Ortiz when Ortiz’s hands were down, Cotto said, “I don’t think so. You have to be a gentleman, no matter what.”
Like Bob Arum, whose Top Rank Inc. promotes him, Cotto didn’t absolve Ortiz of blame in the aftermath of his controversial fourth-round knockout loss in Las Vegas.
“I think the inexperience of Ortiz showed, you know,” Cotto said during a press conference to promote his Dec. 3 rematch against Antonio Margarito at Madison Square Garden. “Because no matter what happens in the fight, you never put your hands down like Ortiz did.”
Cotto was then asked if he still “fantasizes” about fighting Mayweather (42-0, 26 KOs), who’s generally regarded as one of the top two pound-for-pound boxers in the world.
There hasn’t been much talk of Cotto meeting Mayweather in recent years, especially since Filipino superstar Manny Pacquiao (53-3-2, 38 KOs) dominated Cotto (36-2, 29 KOs) in their November 2009 fight in Las Vegas. Nevertheless, Cotto said he would welcome the chance to fight Mayweather.
“I’ll always be open to face the best in the business, you know,” Cotto said. “And if anybody can’t make a fight with Miguel Cotto, it’s not because of me.”
Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, NJ., and BoxingScene.com.