Miguel Cotto, Evangelista Appear in Court To Discuss Brawl
By Mark Vester
WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto and his uncle/former trainer Evangelista Cotto appeared in court on Monday to give statements on their brawl that took place last Wednesday at the Bairoa gym in Caguas, Puerto Rico. Both of them arrived, as well as Miguel Cotto Sr, who tried to break the fight up, at the office of the district attorney in the Caguas district.
The prosecutor in charge of the investigation is Elba Rivera Melendez. Despite the fact that both men refuse to press charges, the prosecutor plans to continue the investigation by calling more witnesses from the gym to conduct further interviews. Miguel could face possible assault charges and Evangelista is also facing possible charges of assault and destruction of property.
The brawl began when Miguel presented a new training plan for the June 13 bout with Joshua Clottey. Evangelista was against the new training plan and the two would have a heated argument that got ugly after Miguel fired him. The end result, according to most eye witnesses, was Evangelista striking Miguel, and the fighter countered with several punches of his own.
After things calmed down, the violence continued at Miguel's apartment, with Evangelista breaking some of his property in there, and then on the street, where Evangelista threw a cement block at Miguel - missing the fighter and breaking the window of his brand new car. After the smoke had cleared, Miguel had a cut on his nose and Evangelista went to the hospital with a broken nose, cervical and chest trauma.
Both Miguel and Evangelista refused to speak with reporters, calling the incident a private family matter. There were years of arguments and tense periods between the two of them and some predicted a possible explosion down the line.
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