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From ESPN.com:
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico --- On the eve of company cornerstone Miguel Cotto's first welterweight title defense, Top Rank signed the Puerto Rican star to a promotional contract extension Friday.
Cotto, 26, who has been with Top Rank since turning pro with Bob Arum's Las Vegas-based company out of the 2000 Olympics, signed a three-year pact to replace his existing deal. The new promotional contract takes him through 2009, but Top Rank also has an option for a fourth year in which it has the right to match any other promotional offer in 2010.
Cotto's old deal was set to expire in mid-2008.
"He has seen great results based on our promotion and he wants to continue the relationship, and we want to continue the relationship with him," Arum told ESPN.com. "We at Top Rank are very happy to promote Cotto. We believe he is one of the best fighters in the world. [The deal] gives us the ability to make some really big fights for him, which is what we all want."
Cotto (28-0, 23 KOs) will earn $1.5 million for his mandatory defense against Oktay Urkal (38-3, 11 KOs) of Germany on Saturday night (HBO, 9:45 ET) at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum, the first fight of the new deal.
If Cotto wins and former undisputed champion Zab Judah wins an April 13 tune-up bout on ESPN2's "Friday Night Fights," they will meet June 9 at New York's Madison Square Garden on HBO PPV. Cotto would earn a minimum of $2.5 million for that bout with a chance to earn more based on the success of pay-per-view sales.
Beyond that fight, Cotto's minimum purse will be at least $2 million per bout. The minimum in the old deal was $300,000 per fight, although he has been earning considerably more than that for the past few years.
Another element of Cotto's new deal calls for Top Rank to assist him on at least one event per year involving his newly created company, Miguel Cotto Promotions, which will put on boxing cards in Puerto Rico, where Cotto is the most popular active fighter.
"We're really thrilled to do this deal with Miguel," said Top Rank president Todd duBoef, displaying Cotto's signature on the contract. "We have a great relationship. It's good when people appreciate it when you have done a good job for them."
Cotto won a vacant junior welterweight title in 2004 by knocking out then-undefeated Kelson Pinto in the sixth round. Cotto made six defenses, winning five by knockout. Among his defenses were knockouts against former titlists Randall Bailey and DeMarcus "Chop Chop" Corley, Olympic conqueror Mohamad Abdulaev and future titlist Ricardo Torres.
Cotto relinquished the 140-pound belt late last year because he was struggling to make weight. He moved up to the 147-pound welterweight division and captured a vacant title in his first fight at the new weight, knocking out highly regarded countryman Carlos Quintana in the fifth round in Atlantic City, N.J., on Dec. 2.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico --- On the eve of company cornerstone Miguel Cotto's first welterweight title defense, Top Rank signed the Puerto Rican star to a promotional contract extension Friday.
Cotto, 26, who has been with Top Rank since turning pro with Bob Arum's Las Vegas-based company out of the 2000 Olympics, signed a three-year pact to replace his existing deal. The new promotional contract takes him through 2009, but Top Rank also has an option for a fourth year in which it has the right to match any other promotional offer in 2010.
Cotto's old deal was set to expire in mid-2008.
"He has seen great results based on our promotion and he wants to continue the relationship, and we want to continue the relationship with him," Arum told ESPN.com. "We at Top Rank are very happy to promote Cotto. We believe he is one of the best fighters in the world. [The deal] gives us the ability to make some really big fights for him, which is what we all want."
Cotto (28-0, 23 KOs) will earn $1.5 million for his mandatory defense against Oktay Urkal (38-3, 11 KOs) of Germany on Saturday night (HBO, 9:45 ET) at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum, the first fight of the new deal.
If Cotto wins and former undisputed champion Zab Judah wins an April 13 tune-up bout on ESPN2's "Friday Night Fights," they will meet June 9 at New York's Madison Square Garden on HBO PPV. Cotto would earn a minimum of $2.5 million for that bout with a chance to earn more based on the success of pay-per-view sales.
Beyond that fight, Cotto's minimum purse will be at least $2 million per bout. The minimum in the old deal was $300,000 per fight, although he has been earning considerably more than that for the past few years.
Another element of Cotto's new deal calls for Top Rank to assist him on at least one event per year involving his newly created company, Miguel Cotto Promotions, which will put on boxing cards in Puerto Rico, where Cotto is the most popular active fighter.
"We're really thrilled to do this deal with Miguel," said Top Rank president Todd duBoef, displaying Cotto's signature on the contract. "We have a great relationship. It's good when people appreciate it when you have done a good job for them."
Cotto won a vacant junior welterweight title in 2004 by knocking out then-undefeated Kelson Pinto in the sixth round. Cotto made six defenses, winning five by knockout. Among his defenses were knockouts against former titlists Randall Bailey and DeMarcus "Chop Chop" Corley, Olympic conqueror Mohamad Abdulaev and future titlist Ricardo Torres.
Cotto relinquished the 140-pound belt late last year because he was struggling to make weight. He moved up to the 147-pound welterweight division and captured a vacant title in his first fight at the new weight, knocking out highly regarded countryman Carlos Quintana in the fifth round in Atlantic City, N.J., on Dec. 2.
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