Cotto speaks! good read!

[SkillspayBills]

“2007 was by far my best year,” reflects Cotto.

2007 was his year, rackin up wins against the likes of Mosley and Judah. I can't see how he wouldn't win fighter of the year.

U IDK maybe other fighters had a BETTER year? I am not slagging his year which was good in it's own right but he definitely had competition.

[Gato2012]

How much disrespect to Floyd the number 1 P4P fighter. Like Hatton didn't have a chance. Like Oscar didn't. Floyd won a fricken split deicision. I hope Floyd fights him and KO's Cotto. Man he has a break for a month and everyone say hes ditching Cotto. Well after hes through with Cotto, there will be another young star that he will be ditching and it will go on and on.

that is not the case. People have been talking about Cotto-Mayweather for about 5 years. And its now at the boiling point where they should fight.

nobody has been talking about Andre Berto or Chavez Jr. vs Mayweather.

[Gato2012]

when you have fights like Shane Mosley vs Miguel Cotto and Ricky Hatton vs Floyd Mayweather, that is like the best fighting the best. Sorting things out. The winners are supposed to fight each other. You dont just win one fight and leave with all that unfinished business. I dont see how people can justify what Floyd may be doing.

[MaYaN_SuN]

U IDK maybe other fighters had a BETTER year? I am not slagging his year which was good in it's own right but he definitely had competition.

Probably, but I enjoyed every Cotto fight this year. I thought Mosley was a ****** fight for him, but he took it, and practically dominated it.

[Dick-Sucker]

that is not the case. People have been talking about Cotto-Mayweather for about 5 years. And its now at the boiling point where they should fight.

nobody has been talking about Andre Berto or Chavez Jr. vs Mayweather.

lol i want the fight to happen to. I just got a bit annoyed lol over the cotto facebook site, they keep sending me spam emails. About what he did each day lol.

I want to see Floyd vs miguel really bad to. I hope they fight mid next year.

If De La Hoya fights him who do you think wins?

[Left2body]

U IDK maybe other fighters had a BETTER year? I am not slagging his year which was good in it's own right but he definitely had competition.

He's saying 2007 was HIS best year not the best of 2007. Which I agree, I think it was Cotto's best year. Still have PBF as fighter of the year with Pavlik 2nd though.

BTW some of these quotes, especially the Arum quotes sound like they came off that video that was up on the main page here in BS where Cotto, Arum and some others are being interviewed while having dinner/****tails.

[Gato2012]

lol i want the fight to happen to. I just got a bit annoyed lol over the cotto facebook site, they keep sending me spam emails. About what he did each day lol.

I want to see Floyd vs miguel really bad to. I hope they fight mid next year.

If De La Hoya fights him who do you think wins?

i hear ya...

Cotto vs De La Hoya would be a good fight. I think at this point Cotto is the better fighter. But Oscar has that power and that left hook that would leave me scared and tense every second of the fight not being able to relax. I would pick Cotto to win but that would deffinately be an interesting fight. I would rather see Cotto-Mayweather though! It has more significance.

[Addison]

from The $WEET $CIENCE DOT COM

Cotto To TSS Universe: "Give My Fans Thanks"
By Phil Woolever

LAS VEGAS – When I informed Miguel Cotto that many of TheSweetScience.com’s well spoken readers and responding posters felt he was a strong choice for 2007’s Fighter of the Year award, his demeanor took on an air of serious consideration. As the concentrating Cotto took time to make sure his English conveyed his feelings properly, he looked me in the eyes and spoke with a sincere tone.

“Tell those readers they have my honest thanks,” said Cotto. “People like them are one of the main reasons I work so hard, to earn their respect. And I respect them and wish them good luck, also. The people that support me know boxing. I hope the next year brings prosperity to us all.”

Floyd Mayweather Jr and Kelly Pavlik round out a trifecta of top performers who shared excellent ‘07 slugging seasons, and a legitimate argument can be any of them in terms of demonstrating the most excellence (my vote went to Floyd). If aficionados get their wishes, Cotto and Mayweather will meet each other, while Pavlik, presuming he gets past Jermain Taylor again, gets a shot at Joe Calzaghe, another boxer coming off a banner campaign calendar.

Maybe the Fighter of the Year award should go to the sport itself, which silenced a lot of the goobers, including some prominent correspondents, who’d been repeating the “boxing’s dead” chorus too frogging long. It was a shame to see longtime, supportive wags displaced ringside at Mayweather – Oscar de la Hoya by larger outlets that wouldn’t be at another fight all year and whose only reporting was derogatory. To them I say stay the hell out away from the game then, we’re having a pretty nice party without yaz.

But back to Cotto, who improved both his rumbling resume and mainstream public profile. Cotto is looking at an HBO date in March, probably versus a much lesser light but hopefully against Antonio Margarito. That’s almost a mismatch in my book, and I’d be surprised if Margarito lasts the distance, but he’s earned the opportunity if it’s available.

There’s speculation that after whatever spring marketing appearance Cotto does or doesn’t make, he’s on the short list of potential opponents for what has been announced as De la Hoya’s grand Cinco de Mayo finale.

Cotto and promoter Bob Arum discussed a few of the possibilities.

“2007 was by far my best year,” reflects Cotto. “The Shane Mosley fight was my best performance ever. I respect Mosley very much because he was a gentleman before and after the fight. I’m available to fight him again, but I see him the same as any future opponent. I don’t know if I’d fight him any differently or not. I’d have to see what he does.”

“I’m not just looking ahead to get a fight with Oscar de la Hoya,” continued Cotto, “I’m ready to keep fighting any big named opponents that are willing to fight me, and I mean it when I say it really doesn’t matter who. I always do what I have to do. I’ve never said no to any (proposed) opponent. Business is business.”

“Floyd (Mayweather, Jr.) has the biggest name, so I’m going after him. Mayweather always has an excuse not to fight me. He says I don’t represent enough money for him, but he knows I have a lot of fans. The real reason he won’t fight me is because he knows what I can do.”

“Paul Williams is a good fighter and getting a bigger name now, so that could be a big fight soon.”


“We’re looking at a fight March 8th,” said Arum. “Then in June. We have all these great welterweights out there and we’ll pick one, then we’ll pick another one. Do we go first with Margarito, or second? That we’ll have to determine.”

“We can’t call Oscar out, it wouldn’t be appropriate, because he’s at the end of his career and he’s fought everybody. He doesn’t have to fight Miguel and if he doesn’t want to, fine. I’ve talked to Richard Schaeffer about it.”

“Cotto – Mayweather will never happen,” promoted Arum, “Never, never. Because Floyd will not fight anybody who has a chance to beat him. This is the biggest con game ever. He will not fight anybody competitive. Not because he’s a coward, he’s not, but because he’s afraid of losing. When he has a chance to fight Margarito or (Carlos) Baldomir, he fights Baldomir because that’s not competitive. (Ricky) Hatton is not competitive. He won’t fight Mosley because Mosley’s got a shot to beat him.”

“I don’t think any boxer can have a better year than beating Shane Mosley and Zab Judah,” concluded Cotto. “I don’t know what Top Rank has planned for me next but I am very happy with them. I’d prefer to fight early in the year. I feel good and don’t have a necessity to change (anything). I’m pretty comfortable at this weight.”

Here’s hoping all Sweet Science readers get to weigh in for as good a 2008 as Cotto had in ’07, and that’s saying quite a bit.

Well, hopefully Miguel gets the De La Hoya fight - but respect to him for being open to fighting Shane again if that's a sincere offer. It's definately worth consideration.

Miguel would be favored to win, it's a big fight, and the other top guys like Margarito, Williams, and Mayweather would be potentially more dangerous than Shane Mosley at this point. Miguel can pass time with a mandatory or whatever, but he has heat right now and even one "nobody" fight could cool things off. He's just building himself up, this is a crucial period.

If somehow he lost to Mosley there would be no shame in it, and they could just do it again for the rubber-match. If he fought someone like Margarito and got blasted out that would be alot harder to swallow.

Few people have considered it, but a rematch with Mosley could be one of his best options. It was a succesful promotion the first time, and would be a good money versus risk scenario for the moment.

But the Oscar fight should go. De La Hoya is a ***** if it doesn't.

[SkillspayBills]

He's saying 2007 was HIS best year not the best of 2007. Which I agree, I think it was Cotto's best year. Still have PBF as fighter of the year with Pavlik 2nd though.

BTW some of these quotes, especially the Arum quotes sound like they came off that video that was up on the main page here in BS where Cotto, Arum and some others are being interviewed while having dinner/****tails.

"I can't see how he didn't win fighter of the year" those are his exact words I believe.

[THe TRiNiTY]

Good interview. I like that Arum made sure not to call Mayweather a coward, yet still point out a truth. He IS afraid to lose, I think.