It was about noon Saturday in Las Vegas. Reporters had gathered at Wolfgang Puck inside MGM Grand for promoter Bob Arum’s 76th birthday and for some access to his prized fighter – welterweight champion Miguel Cotto.
Cotto for the past month has been basking in the glory that came from his defeat of “Sugar” Shane Mosley on Nov. 10 in New York City. Cotto and Arum have been contemplating Cotto’s next fight, as well. The preferred choices for Arum are – in this order – Oscar De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Antonio Margarito. Cotto in one breath said it didn’t matter. In another he said that although De La Hoya would bring the most money, a fight with Mayweather would be more tantalizing to fans. But there are obstacles for fights with either De La Hoya or Mayweather.
Before Cotto was able to get into all that, he was asked what it meant to be honored with a full-blown parade in his native Puerto Rico for the first time during what so far has been a beautiful career. It came in the aftermath of his win over Mosley, a victory Cotto said was the most significant of his career.
“When I reached my country and I saw all those people there for me and doing all those things for me, it was amazing,” Cotto said with complete humility.
Indeed, when you break bread with Cotto, you get that feeling that you want nothing but good things to happen for him. He is a vicious character inside the ring, yet benevolent outside of it.
The thing is Cotto (31-0, 25 KOs) is going to have a difficult time getting either Mayweather or De La Hoya in the ring. From the sound of the news conference following Mayweather’s 10th-round stoppage of Ricky Hatton on Saturday at MGM Grand, it appears that De La Hoya is nevertheless considering a fight with Hatton.
“The reason why it would be viable is because (of) his style, because it would be a clash of the titans,” De La Hoya said. “It would be a clash. It would be a clash.”
Yes, he said, “It would be a clash” three times, perhaps trying to convince himself as well as reporters. Well, there is no doubt that Hatton-De La Hoya would be a big event. All De La Hoya’s fights are that. But to say it would be a “clash of the titans” is a stretch. Hatton just got smoked in 10 and De La Hoya hasn’t had a big win in a while.
To be fair, few would blame De La Hoya if he did not want to fight the 27-year-old Cotto. De La Hoya is 34 and will be 35 by the time his next fight comes along in May. It would be a bit surprising if De La Hoya fought someone as good as Cotto in either of his last two fights – his final bout is tentatively going to be in September. Even Arum agreed with that.
“I am not calling Oscar out,” Arum said. “He is at the end of his career and he doesn’t need to fight Cotto.” Arum did say that his first choice is De La Hoya because of the obvious magnitude of every fight in which the Golden Boy partakes, meaning revenue, limelight, etc.
Fellow welterweight champion Mayweather is the one who needs to fight Cotto, unless Mayweather is really going to retire this time. He said as much immediately after Saturday’s fight, but he was already waffling an hour later in the post-fight news conference.
“I’m not talking about fighting right now,” Mayweather said. “I just fought, you know, about an hour ago. So I’m not even talking about boxing right now. Right now I’m worried about spending the holidays with my family and taking a long vacation to really see if I would want to come back to the sport of boxing. I’ve been in the sport my whole life. As of right now, I’m really bored with the sport of boxing.”
Mayweather was asked specifically about a fight with Cotto. Mayweather praised Cotto as a good fighter, but wouldn’t say much else. Mayweather did intimate, however, that if the right money came along like it did for Hatton, he would fight again.
Hours before, at his birthday party, Arum said that Mayweather would never agree to fight Cotto. Arum was asked if that was because Mayweather’s adviser, Leonard Ellerbe, said during a recent conference call that Mayweather Promotions would not do business with Arum’s Top Rank Inc.
Suddenly, Arum wasn’t having such a happy birthday.
“Listen, you guys,” Arum said, looking up and down a long table of reporters. “This is the biggest con game ever. Floyd will not fight anybody who has a chance to beat him. Not because he is physically a coward, but because he’s afraid of losing. He will not fight anybody competitive.”
To Arum, Hatton was not a realistic threat to Mayweather. And it’s difficult to argue with that. Hatton is a solid junior welterweight, but he is overmatched against world-class welterweights partly because he is too small.
As for Cotto, he is hopeful that he can get either De La Hoya or Mayweather to agree to a fight. The most money would indeed be there for a fight with De La Hoya, something not lost on Cotto.
“Yeah, I know that Oscar is still a boxer who sells homes on pay-per-view,” Cotto said in ever-improving English.
But a win over Mayweather would mean a win against the man perceived by most experts to be the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. And that’s what Cotto really wants. He’s just not sure Mayweather wants any part of him.
“If you ask Floyd for a fight with him, he always has an excuse, you know?” Cotto said. “I’m not attractive for him. I don’t represent too much money for him.”
Cotto also said that if Mayweather’s main reason for not fighting him is because Mayweather and Arum – Mayweather’s former promoter – are on the outs, Mayweather should get over that and do the right thing.
“If you want to fight,” Cotto said, “you put your problems with a person aside and you make the fight.”
Cotto’s next fight is tentatively scheduled for March 8, unless it’s against De La Hoya, who will not fight again until May. If fights with either Mayweather or De La Hoya don’t materialize, look for Cotto to defend his belt against Margarito. That could be a terrific fight, but the hoopla would pale in comparison. The money would be much smaller, too.
Other potential opponents include fellow welterweight champions Paul Williams and Kermit Cintron as well as a rematch with Mosley. Fights with Williams or Cintron would also lack true appeal. And another fight with Mosley falls under the category of been there, done that.
For Cotto’s sake, here’s hoping that either Mayweather or De La Hoya step up to the plate. Preferably Mayweather. He is the one who needs to fight one of the other monsters in this division, not a small-fry like Hatton.