By Jake Donovan

After months of mulling his next move, Miguel Cotto finally has an official announcement regarding his boxing future. Only, it’s not to announce his next fight, but rather whom he will be rolling with for the remainder of his legendary career.

The only four-division titlist in Puerto Rico’s rich boxing history has confirmed his allegiance to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Sports, a rookie promotional outfit that has made headlines since entering the boxing fray last summer. Cotto’s move was confirmed Thursday morning following speculation over the past 24 hours.

“We have an alliance with Miguel Cotto Promotions - Miguel Cotto's boxers - and Roc Nation. We are more than happy to announce that,” the always-reserved Cotto (39-4, 32KOs) said in a brief statement. “Cotto Promotions and I are proud to become partners with Roc Nation Sports. “Big things to come.”

Details of his future with the New York City-based company will be at a formal press conference to take place Thursday afternoon in New York City.

His next fight will take place June 6 in New York City, possibly at Madison Square Garden where he has sold more tickets than any other fighter in the 21st century. An opponent has yet to be announced for the bout.

"We just figured out the fight, probably going to be here in New York on June 6," Cotto revealed on ESPN2's First Take . "We are just trying to figure out the opponent for the fight." 

News of the move first leaked out Wednesday afternoon, coming to the surprise of many.

 Cotto was first signed by Top Rank shortly after representing Puerto Rico in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. His rise to fame with the Vegas-based powerhouse included major championships in three weight classes while emerging as a major boxing superstar in Puerto Rico and New York City.

The latter included frequent appearances at Madison Square Garden, several of which have served as the weekend lead-in to the Puerto Rican Day parade. His first fight on that weekend took place in 2005, avenging an amateur loss to Mohammad Abdullaev with a 5th round stoppage win on an HBO telecast that competed with Mike Tyson’s final ring appearance, which took place on Showtime Pay-Per-View in Washington D.C.

The Garden party marked the third defense of his 140 lb. title he won in his native Puerto Rico in Sept. ’04, the first of several major belts he would claim over his ongoing 15-year career.

Cotto has also won titles at welterweight, junior middleweight and middleweight. The latter made the 34-year old the first ever from the boxing-rich island of Puerto Rico to claim major titles in four weight classes. Cotto accomplished the feat with a shockingly one-sided 10th round knockout win over Sergio Martinez last June, entering the record books and succeeding where several past Puerto Rican greats such as Wilfredo Gomez and Wilfredo Benitez have fallen short (Note: Hall-of-Fame boxing legend Felix Trinidad also won titles in three divisions, but never fought for a belt in a fourth weight class).

The win over Martinez marked Cotto’s second fight back with Top Rank following a brief break from the company that served as his promoter through the first 11 full years of his career. The reserved superstar opted to not extend his contract with Top Rank following his Dec. ’11 stoppage win over Antonio Margarito in a revenge-fueled rematch to avenge the first loss of his career three years prior.

Instead, Cotto declared himself the sport’s most sought-after free agent, a move that led to his landing the most lucrative fight of his career to date, a May ’12 clash with unbeaten pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather. Cotto received an eight-figure payday for the occasion, but also lost his 154 lb. title in the process.

His next fight would mark a dark day in his career, suffering his lone loss at Madison Square Garden after dropping a 12-round decision to then-unbeaten Austin Trout. The event was promoted by Golden Boy Promotions – who also handled honors for Mayweather-Cotto – as well as Promociones Miguel Cotto, but took place in front of a modest-sized crowd and lacked the big fight appeal that came with frequent appearances at the famed venue.

Uncertainty surrounded Cotto’s career before resurfacing with Top Rank later in the year. The handshake agreement was recognized as a fight-by-fight agreement, but his years-long cozy relationship with Todd duBoef, president of Top Rank and also viewed as the serene peacemaker to that of his outspoken father-in-law, Hall of Fame promoter and Top Rank founder/CEO Bob Arum. His first fight under the modified agreement came in Oct. ’13, scoring a 3rd round stoppage over Delvin Rodriguez, a gross mismatch that carried a hefty price tag for HBO, but still a much-needed network appearance in claiming his return following a one-fight stint with Showtime (the loss to Trout), who claimed Mayweather in a major coup earlier in the year.

Top Rank remained enriched in negotiations for a mouthwatering superfight matchup with Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, himself crossing back across the street to HBO after defecting to Showtime along with most of the rest of the top fighters under the Golden Boy Promotions banner. Alvarez’ return to HBO came at a time when his promoter, boxing legend Oscar de la Hoya announced major changes at Golden Boy Promotions, including the forced resignation of its longtime CEO Richard Schaefer.

Included in de la Hoya’s future vision was the promise to work with all promoters and networks, and also bringing an end to the long-running Cold War with Top Rank and Arum, his former promoter during his Hall-of-Fame career. The two sides became bitter rivals over the years, largely due to the growing rivalry between Arum and Schaefer, both of whom carry very strong opinions.

Having seized full control of his company, de la Hoya went back into business with HBO last fall, beginning with Bernard Hopkins’ three-belt unification title fight loss to Sergey Kovalev and also the announcement of Alvarez signing a long-term deal with the network.

From there, efforts were made to land Cotto and Alvarez in the ring for a clash that was targeted for May 2, an open fight date at the time. Alvarez and de la Hoya gave into nearly all of the requested concessions, but the Cotto side deliberately stalled, with most believing they were waiting out ongoing negotiations between Mayweather and Manny Pacquaio.

The latter two serve as the two biggest stars in the sport, but for five years have failed to bring a long-coveted superfight to fruition. Assuming that talks would once again fall apart, many insiders viewed Cotto as the leading candidate to land a rematch with either. In addition to his aforementioned loss to Mayweather, Cotto’s Nov. ‘09 12th round knockout loss to Pacquiao was the starting point in getting the two best fighters in the world in the ring.

While a Pacquiao rematch was unlikely, a rematch with Mayweather was well under consideration. Cotto still reigns as the World lineal middleweight championship. A win by Mayweather in a rematch would have made him the first fighter in boxing history to claim lineal championships in five weight classes; he and Pacquiao are the only two fighters in history to earn such honors in four divisions.

Once “the fight” was finally confirmed last month, all eyes were on Cotto’s next move. A showdown with Alvarez was out, as Mexico’s current biggest star is locked in for a May 9 showdown with James Kirkland, to take place in Houston, Texas.

His alliance with Top Rank meant mulling over matchups with former titlists Tim Bradley and Brandon Rios, both of whom would have to move up in weight for what would’ve been a catchweight fight in the neighborhood of 155 lb.

Neither fight seemed to appeal much to Cotto, who indirectly referred to such fights as “the crumbs that Todd (duBoef) wanted to give us” in an interview with El Vocero . What his options would be in his recently inked deal with Roc Nation Sports remain to be seen. As much is asked of the company’s other major signing this year, landing unbeaten World super middleweight king Andre Ward, who successfully sued his way out of contract with Goossen Promotions.

Roc Nation Sports comes with its own baggage in terms of boxing grudges. Jay-Z (nee Shawn Carter) - the famed rapper-turned-music-bigwig – is highly unlikely to do business with boxing powebroker Al Haymon. The rivalry extends well beyond the sport, stemming from a lawsuit filed by Jay Z’s wife and award-winning recording supetstar Beyoncè, who claimed that Haymon (a major concert promoter) and her estranged father and former manager Mathew Knowles conspired to defraud her.


The legal case was enough for Haymon to convince several of his fighters – most notably Peter Quillin, Keith Thurman and Deontay Wilder – to avoid doing business with Roc Nation Sports after making an instant splash in the industry last summer.

RNS dispatched David Itskowitch to Puerto Rico for an announced purse bid for the fight to promote and ordered WBO middleweight title fight between Peter Quillin and Matt Korobov. Also at the purse bid were representatives from Golden Boy Promotions – with whom Quillin was still aligned at the time – and Top Rank, Korobov’s promoter. Both parties were caught off guard by the on-site arrival of Itskowitch, who was soon thereafter revealed as RNS Vice President of Branding and Strategy.

The bigger shock came with the purse bid results, as RNS put up nearly $2 million to earn the right to promote the fight. It was enough to motivate a conversation to take place between Haymon and Quillin that somehow convinced the unbeaten titlist to give up his belt and a $1.4 million payday for a fight in which he would have been heavily favored to win.

Roc Nation also sought to ink Thurman and Wilder to lucrative deals. Both were appreciative of the generous offers, but vowed its loyalty to Haymon. Thurman will now headline Haymon’s inaugural Premier Boxing Champions event, which airs this weekend live in primetime on NBC. Wilder became the first American heavyweight to win a major title - dethroning Bermane Stiverne earlier this year – and is viewed as the public’s most desired option for the winner of the upcoming World heavyweight championship between long-reigning king Wladimir Klitschko and unbeaten Bryant Jennings.

None of the aforementioned moves had any effect on Roc Nation’s desire to move forward with its desire to make an impact in the boxing industry. The company staged its first official event this past January, amidst a fight week that included an announced merger with Gary Shaw Productions as well as the signing of Ward.

The merger with Shaw’s company didn’t take, as the two sides couldn’t properly agree on a future direction in amicably opting to back to the way things were.

The deal with Ward stood, as RNS continues to work towards the ring return of the reigning super middleweight king.

With Thursday’s announcement also comes plans to now piece together the rest of Cotto’s career.

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox