Miguel Cotto workout Photo Gallery

15rounds.com Claudia Bocanegra was on hand at Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn to capture three-division world champion Miguel Cotto working put in advance of his Saturday showdown with WBA Super Welterweight champion Austin Trout this Saturday at Madison Square Garden
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FOX DEPORTES CLASSICS TO FEATURE EXCITING FIGHTS SHOWCASING MIGUEL COTTO & AUSTIN TROUT ON NOVEMBER 24 AHEAD OF THEIR DECEMBER 1 WORLD TITLE CLASH

LOS ANGELES, November 21 – Puerto Rican superstar Miguel Cotto returns to his home away from home on December 1 at Madison Square Garden in New York City where he will challenge Austin Trout for his WBA Super Welterweight World Championship. Before this meeting of champions in the “Mecca of Boxing,” FOX Deportes Classics delivers two of these fighters’ most impressive victories on Saturday, November 24 at 10:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. PT.

First, the Classics will go back to February 5, 2011 when Trout shocked the boxing world by defeating Canelo Alvarez’ brother, Rigoberto Alvarez for the WBA Interim Super Welterweight crown. Then, the main event showcases Cotto as he entered the ring at Madison Square Garden on November 10, 2007 in an exciting 12-round welterweight championship bout against fellow superstar Sugar Shane Mosley.

In one of 2007’s most highly-anticipated fights, Cotto and Mosley gave fight fans everything they expected and more. The two battled back and forth for 12 fast-paced rounds, exchanging explosive shots before Cotto pulled out a close, but unanimous decision to retain his WBA Welterweight title for the third time.

Previously only known to the hardcore fight crowd, Trout announced his arrival to the rest of the world in February of 2011, when he traveled to Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico to defeat the favored hometown favorite Alvarez and capture his first world championship belt. He has since defended that belt three times, setting up December’s title defense against Cotto.

# # #

“Showdown: Cotto vs. Trout” is a 12-round battle between Four-Time and Three-Division World Champion Miguel Cotto and undefeated WBA Super Welterweight World Champion Austin Trout taking place on Saturday, December 1 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The co-featured fights will see Jayson Velez take on Salvador Sanchez in a 10-round fight for the vacant WBC Silver Featherweight title and Danny “Miracle Man” Jacobs battle Chris “The Irish Ghost” Fitzpatrick in a 8-round middleweight fight. The event is promoted by Miguel Cotto Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions in association with Greg Cohen Promotions, sponsored by The Puerto Rican Tourism Board and Corona and will be televised live on SHOWTIME at 9 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the west coast).

Tickets priced at $500, $300, $200, $100 and $50, not including applicable service charges and taxes, are available for purchase at the Madison Square Garden Box Office, all Ticketmaster outlets, Ticketmaster charge by phone (866-858-0008) and online at www.ticketmaster.com or www.thegarden.com.

For more information on Golden Boy Promotions, visit www.goldenboypromotions.comor www.FOXDeportes.com, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GoldenBoyBoxing or www.twitter.com/FOXDeportes visit us on Facebook at Golden Boy Facebook Page or www.facebook.com/FOXDeportes.

QUOTES FROM MONDAY’S MIGUEL COTTO MEDIA WORKOUT IN ORLANDO, FLORIDA

Miguel Cotto
“Trout has been a World Champion and he deserves his recognition. I know why I accepted this challenge..

“Training in Big Bear was great and we accomplished all the goals that [trainer] Pedro [Diaz] had for us. Everything so far is going just as he planned. I’m feeling great.

“Pedro has been a great addition to my career and for our team. Everyone saw the results with my fights against (Antonio) Margarito and (Floyd) Mayweather. Now, we’ll see how I perform against Trout.

“All fights are different and every fighter is different, but I’m training hard like always and I’m ready to show that everyone on December 1st.

“Trout is not the only undefeated fighter that I have faced. He is not the first champion either. With that in mind, I will climb into the ring to win.”

Pedro Diaz

“Since I started working with Miguel Cotto, we talked about the future, different training techniques and new preparations like training at high altitude. We trained for three weeks in Puerto Rico to prepare Miguel for Big Bear. Once we got there, training was excellent.

“The final result was exactly what we wanted and we met our physical and mental goals for Miguel. Miguel has been in some very tough and difficult fights and we wanted to give his body some extra oxygen by training in Big Bear. Everyone knows the benefits of training at a high altitude and it paid off.

“We came back to Orlando to finish our preparations and everything has gone smoothly. He’s 100% ready and Miguel can feel the difference from this training camp to the others before. I know were going to win on December 1st.”

Jayson Velez

“I’m very emotional and happy about my upcoming fight. I’m fighting at a legendary venue and to fight on the co-main event underneath Miguel is an honor. This is also my first time on SHOWTIME and an opportunity that very few people get.

“I’m fighting a tough Mexican fighter and I’m expecting a war…Puerto Rico vs. Mexico! I promise everyone, it will be a great show.”

# # #

“Showdown: Cotto vs. Trout” is a 12-round battle between Four-Time and Three-Division World Champion Miguel Cotto and WBA Super Welterweight World Champion Austin Trout taking place on Saturday, December 1 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The co-featured fights will see Jayson Velez take on Salvador Sanchez II in a 10-round fight for the vacant WBC Silver Featherweight title and Danny “Miracle Man” Jacobs battle Chris “The Irish Ghost” Fitzpatrick in a 10-round middleweight fight. The event is promoted by Miguel Cotto Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions in association with Greg Cohen Promotions, sponsored by The Puerto Rican Tourism Board and Corona and will be televised live on SHOWTIME at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast).

For more information, visit www.promocionesmiguelcotto.com, www.goldenboypromotions.com, and www.thegarden.com, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/RealMiguelCotto, www.twitter.com/GoldenBoyBoxing, www.twitter.com/NoDoubtTrout, www.twitter.com/Jayson_Velez, www.twitter.com/DanielJacobsTKO, www.twitter.com/MSGSportsNYC, www.twitter.com/SHOsports, follow the conversation using #CottoTrout or become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GoldenBoyBoxing or www.facebook.com/SHOsports.

Miguel Cotto vs. Austin Trout – ‘Our House’ by Slaughterhouse (ft. Skylar Grey)

DECEMBER 1 MIGUEL COTTO VS. AUSTIN TROUT SHOWTIME TELEVISED CO-FEATURED BOUTS SET

LOS ANGELES, November 16 – The December 1 event at Madison Square Garden just became an explosive tripleheader with the addition of unbeaten Puerto Rican phenom Jayson Velez taking on Mexico’s Salvador Sanchez II in a 10-round fight for the vacant WBC Silver Featherweight title in a classic Puerto Rico vs. Mexico battle. In the second co-featured attraction, one of boxing’s top young talents, middleweight Danny “Miracle Man” Jacobs, will face Cleveland’s Chris “The Irish Ghost” Fitzpatrick in a 10-round middleweight fight as Jacobs returns for his second fight after winning a harrowing battle against a cancerous tumor that attacked his spine. The tripleheader will be televised on SHOWTIME from Madison Square Garden.

A native of Juncos, Puerto Rico, 24-year-old Jayson Velez (19-0, 14 KO’s) has shown the potential to follow in the championship footsteps of Puerto Rico’s most famous resident, Miguel Cotto. A sharp puncher who can take out opponents with either hand, Velez is coming off of a sixth round knockout over Leivi Brea in August. On December 1, he returns to Madison Square Garden for the first time since stopping Jesus Bayron in June of 2009.

Hailing from Tianguistenco, Mexico, Salvador “Sal II” Sanchez II (30-4-3, 18 KO’s) is carrying on his pugilistic family name following the tragic death of his uncle, the legendary featherweight champion Salvador Sanchez, in 1982. The winner of 11 straight, the 27-year-old Sanchez will pay homage to his uncle on December 1 by wearing the trunks, shoes and robe the Hall of Famer wore in his final fight against Azumah Nelson at Madison Square Garden in July of 1982, making this more than just a fight for this promising Mexican warrior.

A highly-decorated amateur boxer with several titles and accolades to his name, Brooklyn’s Danny Jacobs (23-1, 20 KO’s) was achieving the same success in the professional game, soaring to the top of the middleweight division at breakneck speed, with the only hiccup being an upset loss to Dmitry Pirog for the vacant WBO Middleweight title in 2010. Jacobs quickly rebounded from the defeat, winning two subsequent fights by knockout, but shortly after defeating Robert Kliewer in March of 2011, he was faced with the biggest fight of his life against cancer. Thankfully, the 25-year-old fought just as hard out of the ring as he does inside of it and is now cancer-free after a battle that lasted over a year. Even more amazing is that after being told he would never fight again, he fought his way back into the ring and looked as sharp as ever when he knocked out Josh Luteran in just 73 seconds on October 20 of this year. Now he will step things up once again when he faces Fitzpatrick on December 1 at The Garden.

Chris “The Irish Ghost” Fitzpatrick (15-2, 6 KO’s) has been boxing since the age of eight and this lifelong passion has finally led him to the Mecca of Boxing, Madison Square Garden for the biggest fight of his career on December 1. A boxer-puncher who always shows up to scrap, the 25-year-old from Cleveland, Ohio has been fighting professionally since 2008 and he’s looking forward to testing Jacobs while showing that he’s ready for the next level of competition in the talent-rich middleweight division.

“Showdown: Cotto vs. Trout” is a 12-round battle between Four-Time and Three-Division World Champion Miguel Cotto and WBA Super Welterweight World Champion Austin Trout taking place on Saturday, December 1 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The co-featured fights will see Jayson Velez take on Salvador Sanchez in a 10-round fight for the vacant WBC Silver Featherweight title and Danny “Miracle Man” Jacobs battle Chris “The Irish Ghost” Fitzpatrick in a 10-round middleweight fight. The event is promoted by Miguel Cotto Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions in association with Greg Cohen Promotions, sponsored by The Puerto Rican Tourism Board and Corona and will be televised live on SHOWTIME.

TROUT IN TRAINING FOR DECEMBER 1 CLASH WITH MIGUEL COTTO AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN: “I’M UPPING THE INTENSITY!”

Holed away in his new, higher-elevation training camp in Ruidoso, New Mexico, WBA Super Welterweight World Champion Austin “No Doubt” Trout (25-0, 14 KO’s) says he’s not necessarily doing anything different in preparation for the fourth defense of his WBA title on December 1 against Four-Time and Three-Division World Champion Miguel Cotto at Madison Square Garden and televised live on SHOWTIME… he’s just doing more of it.

“I haven’t changed anything; it’s just a more intense camp,” Trout said. “I’m expecting a hard 12 rounds in an intense fight. Cardio is very important because I’ve never known him to show up unprepared. He’s still a very hungry fighter and I’m flattered he chose me as his opponent. That shows how hungry he still is, so I’m upping everything that I normally do. We had to acclimate to the high altitude, but now we’re continuing to work harder than ever.”

Trout says he’s been watching Cotto for a long time and knows what to expect when the two meet.

“I’ve got a pretty good bead on how he fights and I know my jab will be a problem for him, but I will have to put a lot of leather on him. He’s a warrior that comes to fight, but I’ve seen fighters like him before and I know what I have to do. I’m looking at this as my golden opportunity. He’s had his time and done great things with it, but it’s my time now. I’ll be damned if I let this opportunity slip away from me.”

The 27-year-old Las Cruces, New Mexico native says he’s not affected by the additional pressure of being in a career-defining fight. “This is part of the job,” Trout said. “It all comes with the territory. I was born for this.”

Trout admits to one weakness in camp though, “I definitely miss my kids.”

# # #

“Showdown: Cotto vs. Trout” is a 12 round battle between Four-Time and Three-Division World Champion Miguel Cotto and WBA Super Welterweight World Champion Austin Trout taking place on December 1 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The event is promoted by Miguel Cotto Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions in association with Greg Cohen Promotions, sponsored by Corona and will be telecast live on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING.

Tickets priced at $500, $300, $200, $100 and $50, not including applicable service charges and taxes, are on sale and can be purchased at the Madison Square Garden Box Office, all Ticketmaster outlets, Ticketmaster charge by phone (866-858-0008) and online at www.ticketmaster.comor www.thegarden.com.

Hailing from Caguas, Puerto Rico, Cotto (37-3, 30 KO’s) has held a world title every year since 2004 while winning 16 of the 18 world championship bouts in which he has fought. Puerto Rico’s most exciting fighter and one of its greatest of all time, Cotto held the World Boxing Organization (WBO) Junior Welterweight crown from 2004-2006, successfully defending it six times before vacating it in order to fight for and capture the WBA Welterweight title at the end of 2006, a title he held for nearly as long. After controversially losing the WBA title to Antonio Margarito in July 2008, Cotto won his second welterweight belt in February 2009, knocking out Michael Jennings in the fifth round to become the WBO Welterweight champion. He lost the title in his second defense in November 2009, but captured the WBA Super Welterweight title in June of 2010 at Yankee Stadium in New York by stopping then-undefeated defending champion Yuri Foreman. Cotto successfully defended that title by stopping Two-Division World Champion Ricardo “El Matador” Mayorga in the 12th round in March of 2011 and then avenged his loss to Margarito in December of 2011, once again retaining his title and giving him true peace of mind. He has also added to his huge fan base by giving Floyd “Money” Mayweather and Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao their toughest fights to date. Next on his plate is Austin Trout, and if he defeats the New Mexico southpaw, it will be another world championship added to his Hall of Fame resume.

27-year-old Austin “No Doubt” Trout (25-0, 14 KO’s) has been boxing since the age of 10, but the 2004 United States amateur champion didn’t begin making noise in the sport until he began mowing through opponent after opponent while maintaining an undefeated professional record. By the tail end of 2009, he was 20-0 and the WBA international, WBA Fedelatin, and WBC Continental Americas super welterweight champion, but fights were hard to come by. In February of 2011 though, Trout emerged and captured a world championship by defeating Rigoberto “El Español” Alvarez, Canelo’s older brother, for the WBA Interim Super Welterweight World Championship. He has since been elevated to full champion and successfully defended his belt three times against David “Destroyer” Lopez, Frank “The Italian Stallion” LoPorto and Delvin Rodriguez, setting up the fight of his life on December 1 against Miguel Cotto.

For more information, visit www.promocionesmiguelcotto.com, www.goldenboypromotions.com, and www.thegarden.com, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/RealMiguelCotto, www.twitter.com/GoldenBoyBoxing, www.twitter.com/NoDoubtTrout, www.twitter.com/MSGSportsNYC, www.twitter.com/SHOsports, follow the conversation using #CottoTrout or become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GoldenBoyBoxing or www.facebook.com/SHOsports.

SHOWTIME SPORTS® TO TAKE VIEWERS BEHIND THE SCENES WITH ALL ACCESS: COTTO vs. TROUT

NEW YORK (Nov. 12, 2012) — SHOWTIME® Sports takes viewers behind the scenes and into the lives of Four-Time and Three Division World Champion Miguel Cotto and undefeated reigning World Champion Austin Trout with ALL ACCESS: Cotto vs. Trout as they push themselves toward their highly anticipated Dec. 1 showdown at New York’s legendary Madison Square Garden, live on SHOWTIME® (9:00 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the West Coast).

The first of two episodes featuring the unique perspective of ALL ACCESS premieres on Friday, Nov. 16 at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT on SHOWTIME, with multiple replays on CBS Sports Network, SHOWTIME and SHOWTIME EXTREME.

ALL ACCESS crews are on hand to document everything from the intense to the intimate as Cotto and Trout prepare for 12 rounds of boxing at its highest level. From the last brutal round of sparring to the respite of family life during an excruciating two month training camp, ALL ACCESS gives viewers an all-encompassing glimpse into the lives of these two world champions.

In episode one, SHOWTIME documents Cotto’s training camp from the mountains of Big Bear, Calif., to the heat of Orlando, Fla., where the pound-for-pound mainstay completes his camp. ALL ACCESS provides an inside glimpse to the intense workouts and preparations as Cotto (37-3, 30 KO’s), of Caguas, Puerto Rico, aims to win his 17th world championship bout.

Viewers will also be on hand in Las Cruces, N.M., home and camp of WBA Super Welterweight World Champion Trout. The undefeated “No Doubt” Trout (25-0, 14 KO’s) has made three successful defenses of his title and is aiming to defeat a legend in order to solidify himself as one of the sport’s premier fighters.

Featured in ALL ACCESS: Cotto vs. Trout are trainers Pedro Diaz (Cotto) and Louie Burke (Trout), as well as family members, nutritionists and nearly every vital component on the path to Madison Square Garden.

Following the Dec. 1 fight, Epilogue peels back the curtain and takes viewers inside the fight week build-up and offers a rare glimpse into the raw emotion and drama during the fight. Epilogue premieres on Saturday, Dec. 15 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on SHOWTIME. Following the premiere of Epilogue, SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING presents Amir Khan vs. Carlos Molina in a 12-round Junior Welterweight bout live at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT.

Websites and blogs may embed the trailer using http://bcove.me/m0o8hcje

“Showdown: Cotto vs. Trout” is a 12-round battle between Four-Time and Three-Division World Champion Miguel Cotto and WBA Super Welterweight World Champion Austin Trout taking place on Saturday, December 1 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The event is promoted by Miguel Cotto Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions in association with Greg Cohen Promotions, sponsored by Corona and will be telecast live on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING.

Tickets priced at $500, $300, $200, $100 and $50, not including applicable service charges and taxes, are on sale now. They can be purchase.d at the Madison Square Garden Box Office, all Ticketmaster outlets, Ticketmaster charge by phone (866-858-0008) and online at www.ticketmaster.com or www.thegarden.com.

CAN UNBEATEN SENSATION JOSE PEDRAZA LIVE UP TO HYPE? IS HE PUERTO RICO’S BEST PROSPECT SINCE MIGUEL COTTO? WATCH THIS FRIDAY WHEN HE TAKES ON TEVIN FARMER IN MAIN EVENT ON SHOBOX: THE NEW GENERATION

NEW YORK (Oct. 10, 2012) – Fans get an opportunity to watch a boxer regarded as the most promising prospect from Puerto Rico since superstar Miguel Cotto when talented lightweight and former international amateur standout Jose “The Sniper” Pedraza (10-0) faces southpaw Tevin “The American Idol” Farmer (7-3-1, 1 KO) of Philadelphia in the eight-round main event this Friday, Oct. 12, on ShoBox: The New Generation live on SHOWTIME® (10 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the West Coast).

The co-feature at Ameristar Casino in St. Charles, Mo., is a grudge match between power-punching Dominican Jonathan “El Conquistador” Cepeda (12-0, 11 KOs), of Jersey City, N.J., and fellow unbeaten Lamar “The Boxing Que” Russ (10-0, 6 KOs), of Tallahassee, Fla. Russ lost via disputed disqualification to Cepeda in the finals of a Golden Gloves tournament in March 2007 and will be seeking revenge in the eight-round middleweight match.

Also, highlights from a fight featuring Jermain Taylor against Raul Munoz and a live interview with Taylor, a former undisputed middleweight champion, will be shown during the telecast.

The 5-foot-9, 23-year-old Pedraza is unbeaten and untested and has been brought along slowly, but he seemingly possesses the tools to oneday perhaps become as well-known – and successful — as his Puerto Rican predecessors, prolific prizefighters such as Cotto, Felix “Tito” Trinidad, Wilfredo Gomez and Wilfred Benitez.

Said Cotto: “We wish the best to Pedraza on Friday night. Looking forward to a great performance on ShoBox.’’

Pedraza, who began boxing at the age of 12, fought 170 times in the amateurs and was a three-time Puerto Rican national champion. He represented Puerto Rico in the 2008 Olympic Games, and was the gold medalist at the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games.

Since turning pro at 21 on Feb. 18, 2011, he has seldom lost a round.

“The next couple of months we’re going to see the present and the future of Puerto Rican boxing,’’ said ShoBox expert analyst and boxing historian Steve Farhood. “On Dec. 1, Cotto, a future Hall of Famer, will be fighting at Madison Square Garden on SHOWTIME and on Friday the fighter that has been called the best prospect since Cotto is fighting on ShoBox.’’

This will be Pedraza’s fifth fight in 2012, his sixth consecutive scheduled eight-round bout and his second start on ShoBox. In his last fight, he registered one knockdown en route to taking a unanimous eight-round decision over Jose Valderrama on Aug. 31. Three fights ago, Pedraza won his ShoBox debut with a unanimous eight-round decision over Gil Garcia on April 27.

“Judging by what we saw from Pedraza last time on ShoBox, you can be sure he’ll be punching for a knockout (on Friday),’’ Farhood said.

The versatile, ambidextrous Pedraza, who can box or slug, trains the vast majority of the time at the Albergue Olimpico Gym in Salinas. Albergue Olimpico Gym is the Olympic training center in Puerto Rico – the equivalent of Colorado Springs in the United States.

“I just want to tell all the people who are coming to the fight and all of the people watching on TV — get ready because I’m going to put on a show,” Pedraza said.

Farmer, a replacement for Allan Benitez who withdrew because of an elbow injury, accepted this assignment this past weekend.

An awkward boxer and natural counter-puncher who’ll be spotting Pedraza three inches in height, the 5-foot-6, 22-year old Farmer has won three in a row and five out of his last six. In his last start, he pitched an eight-round shutout against Rasool Shakoor on July 28.

Farmer, a pro since February 2011, is known for his willingness to fight anybody anywhere – even if it means taking a significant step up in class versus a foe he knows nothing about.

“I’m not familiar with my opponent at all,’’ the self-managed Farmer said. “I haven’t seen videos. I know my capabilities. I’m slick and fast and I know I’ve faced tougher. Fighting me will be a step up for him, not a step up for me. I don’t have a promoter backing me, I’ve done this alone.’’

Farmer feels fighting as a lightweight is significant. “I was actually struggling to make weight,’’ he said. “Look at my losses; they were all at 130 or under. So now I’m fighting at 135.”

If bloodlines mean anything, Farmer will win. He says he’s related to the legendary Joe Gans, an all-time great world lightweight champion considered to be one of the best boxers in history, pound-for-pound.

The opening bout of the telecast is a classic ShoBox matchup between unbeaten fighters at similar stages of their careers. Both feel they are elite prospects and are willing to prove it by fighting each other. The result could provide each three-year professional a good barometer of where they’re at and how close they are to taking the next step to contender status.

“If you haven’t seen Cepeda, you’re going to love him,’’ Farhood said. “He’s a pure puncher with a knockout artist’s mentality. Russ is a lanky boxer-puncher who stands in the pocket, so it should be a great action fight.’’

While a defeat wouldn’t be disastrous for either guy, the outcome may be more important to the aggressive-minded, 5-foot-9, 28-year-old Cepeda, a three-year pro who got a late start in the sport and didn’t begin to box until he was 20. He had a brief amateur career, going 24-4 (all the losses were to former world title challenger Danny Jacobs) before turning pro in November 2008.

Cepeda has won nine in a row by knockout, including a 1:42 first-round TKO over Orphius Waite last Aug. 2. He dropped Waite twice before it was stopped. This will be his second fight since walking away from a head-on collision last November on the New Jersey Turnpike.

“There was one lane open, and there was about a 70- or 80-year-old man who fell asleep at the wheel and hit me straight on at 80 miles an hour,’’ Cepeda said. “I was with a female friend. She broke her shoulder. She had a dog with her and the dog went through the windshield.”

Miraculously, Cepeda escaped mostly unscathed. “I had injuries to my shoulder and back and a couple of flesh wounds, but nothing serious,’’ he said. “I went through physical therapy. Luckily I was able to recover 100 percent. I had angels of my own that day, my Mom’s birthday.’’

Cepeda has had to overcome a lot besides the automobile accident. “I had personal problems,’’ he said. “I’m from the streets where there were gangs, violence. But I went to Florida, went to school, got an education. I saw a whole different life. Now, I’m real happy. I just want to look good and let everyone know I’m the new kid on the block and I demand my respect. I love fighting. I’m excited, happy that this opportunity came along. I’m going in there to take him out.”

Russ, a 6-foot-2, 25-year-old college graduate, is fighting for the first time since registering a career-best fourth-round knockout over previously undefeated Jose Alonzo last April 14. This will be his third fight of the year, after fighting just once in 2011. It is his eight-round debut.

Before turning pro at the age of 22 in October 2009, Russ was an accomplished, top five-ranked amateur who won the vast majority of his nearly 300 bouts. But it’s the DQ defeat to Cepeda that continues to gnaw at him.

“When I fought him in the amateurs, I was disqualified – it was just a bad call,” said Russ, who spars with WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin. “We knew we’d run into him one of these days, and this is it. It’s personal, because I feel like he owes me one. As soon as we were offered this fight, we jumped on it. Jonathan is a great guy and he’s got great skills but I feel like I’m the better, hungrier fighter. I deserve this. It’s going to be an interesting fight.”

Regarding his nickname, “The Boxing Que,” he said. “I’m in a fraternity, Omega Psi Phi, at Fayetteville State University. I graduated with a business administration degree in 2011.”

Barry Tompkins will call the ShoBox action from ringside alongside Farhood. The executive producer is Gordon Hall with Richard Gaughan producing and Rick Phillips directing.

The event is promoted by DiBella Entertainment, in association with Gary Shaw Productions, Universal Promotions and Rumble Time Promotions. Tickets are priced at $100, $75 and $40 and can be purchased through the Ameristar Casino or by calling (314) 267-2204. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. with the first bout scheduled for 6 p.m.

Trout: It’s My Time!

Listening to former four-time and three-division world champion Miguel Cotto guarantee a victory against him, Austin “No Doubt” Trout had mixed emotions.

The pair will meet for Trout’s WBA Super Welterweight World Championship on Saturday, December 1 at Madison Square Garden in New York City and live on SHOWTIME.

“I know this fight will be a changing of the guard. I’m going to use my victory over him as an announcement that boxing has a new superstar,” said Trout. “But even though boxing is a game where the strongest survive and it’s my time, I still feel a little bad for him and his fans. I’ve been a Cotto fan and he’s had a great career, but I hope they all know this is 2012. They’re not going there to watch their hero win. They’re going there to watch him pass the torch.”

Trout says he hopes when the fight is over, he can let Cotto know it wasn’t personal and that every great fighter goes through this in time.

“In 1991, Sugar Ray Leonard fought an unknown champion right there in Madison Square Garden. He was supposed to be just tuning up for big fights on the horizon. But instead, he took a beating and that was his last fight as a serious threat to any belts. 12 rounds later, boxing had a new star, Terry Norris. That’s what this fight will be about: History repeating itself.”

Respectful, likeable and active in several charities, Trout says he hopes The Big Apple fight fans will get behind him as they did Cotto in his glory days.

“It’s such a lifelong dream to be fighting a superstar in the ‘Mecca of Boxing’. It really is a dream come true and I hope my victory is impressive enough where the fans in this great city show me some of the love they’ve showed Cotto throughout his great run. I’m honored to be part of such an historic event and happy that my time is about to begin.”

Tickets priced at $500, $300, $200, $100 and $50 are on sale now. They can be purchased at the Madison Square Garden Box Office, all Ticketmaster outlets, Ticketmaster charge by phone (866-858-0008) and online at www.ticketmaster.com or www.thegarden.com.

27-year-old Austin “No Doubt” Trout (25-0, 14 KO’s) has been boxing since the age of 10, but the 2004 United States amateur champion didn’t begin making noise in the sport until he began mowing through opponent after opponent while maintaining an undefeated professional record. By the tail end of 2009, he was 20-0 and the WBA international, WBA Fedelatin, and WBC Continental Americas super welterweight champion, but fights were hard to come by. In February of 2011 though, Trout emerged and captured a world championship by defeating Rigoberto “El Español” Alvarez, Canelo’s older brother, for the WBA Interim Super Welterweight World Championship. He has since been elevated to full champion and defended his belt successfully three times against David “Destroyer” Lopez, Frank “The Italian Stallion” LoPorto and Delvin Rodriguez, setting up the fight of his life on December 1 against Miguel Cotto.

For more information, visit www.promocionesmiguelcotto.com, www.goldenboypromotions.com, and www.thegarden.com, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/RealMiguelCotto, www.twitter.com/GoldenBoyBoxing, www.twitter.com/NoDoubtTrout, www.twitter.com/MSGSportsNYC, www.twitter.com/SHOsports, follow the conversation using #CottoTrout or become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GoldenBoyBoxing or www.facebook.com/SHOsports.

MIGUEL COTTO & AUSTIN TROUT HOLD PRESS CONFERENCE IN PUERTO RICO

NEW YORK (Sept. 27, 2012) – Two days after a press conference in New York to formally announce “Showdown: Cotto vs. Trout,” Miguel Cotto and Austin Trout were in Puerto Rico on Wednesday to discuss their upcoming world title fight on Saturday, December 1, at Madison Square Garden.

Speaking outdoors at a public press conference at Anfiteatro Paseo De Las Artes Calle Padial in Caguas, Four-Time and Three-Division World Champion Cotto and defending WBA Super Welterweight World Champion Trout spoke enthusiastically about the impending fight with Cotto emphatically declaring his intention to win.

While addressing his adoring fans and media in his native country, Cotto guaranteed a victory: “Thank you all for coming today. We are very happy to see you all and (I thank you for) your great support. I can only say that I will train as hard as I can like I always do, and on December 1, I will become world champion again. I’ll guarantee you all that I will return to Puerto Rico as a champion.”

Tickets priced at $500, $300, $200, $100 and $50, not including applicable service charges and taxes, are on sale now and can be purchased at the Madison Square Garden Box Office, all Ticketmaster outlets, Ticketmaster charge by phone (866-858-0008) and online at www.ticketmaster.com or www.thegarden.com.

MIGUEL COTTO AND AUSTIN TROUT SET TO SQUARE OFF DECEMBER 1 AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN IN A WORLD TITLE CLASH

NEW YORK (September 24) – Though he proudly represents his native Puerto Rico every time he steps between the ropes, Miguel Cotto can easily call New York City his second home, as he is unbeaten in nine fights in the Big Apple since turning professional in 2001. On Saturday, December 1 the former Four-Time and Three-Division World Champion expects to have a full house cheering him on at the “Mecca of Boxing,” Madison Square Garden, as he looks to add another title belt to his collection when he takes on WBA Super Welterweight World Champion Austin “No Doubt” Trout in a fight that will be telecast live on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING.

“I am really excited to come back to my second home,” said Cotto. “Fighting at The Garden is always special for me and a true pleasure. There is something unique in the atmosphere and it means a lot to me every time I fight there because the energy of the fans gives me extra motivation. Austin Trout will be a challenge for me, but I will win my fifth world championship on December 1.”

“Miguel Cotto needs no introduction,” said Trout. “He’s a true champion and one of the best fighters of the last 10 years, but I’m the present and future of the sport and this is just the showcase I need to prove to the world that I’m one of the best, pound-for-pound. I can’t wait to fight in such a legendary place like Madison Square Garden; it’s every fighter’s dream.”

“We are thrilled to have Miguel Cotto back at The Garden in a spectacular fight against undefeated and world champion Austin Trout,” Miguel Cotto Promotions Vice President Hector Soto stated. “This will be like a homecoming party; a national Puerto Rican holiday. This is a solid show featuring one of the biggest superstars in boxing, Miguel Cotto, supported by hot prospects from the island of Puerto Rico showing their developing talent and potential. I cannot wait!”

“There are few events in boxing like a Miguel Cotto fight at Madison Square Garden,” said Golden Boy Promotions President Oscar De La Hoya. “The atmosphere is electric and it feels like all of Puerto Rico has come out to support him. Nights like these lift up the sport and I can’t wait to be in New York on December 1 to witness this great fight live.”

“Austin Trout is the WBA Super Welterweight Champion of The World, Miguel Cotto is a future hall of famer and great fighter who deserves all the accolades he receives,” said Greg Cohen, CEO of Greg Cohen Promotions. “Miguel Cotto could fight anyone and the fact that he sought out a young, hungry and talented world champion in Austin Trout speaks volumes of his character and competitive spirit. This fight will represent the changing of the guard, very similar to when a young Sugar Ray Leonard beat Wilfred Benitez. Austin Trout is going to be the next American superstar. Some guys get lost in the moment while others embrace it. Austin will seize the moment. December 1 at Madison Square Garden, a star will be born!”

“We are proud to be working with Miguel Cotto Promotions on such a huge event,” said Stephen Espinzoa, Executive Vice President and General Manager, SHOWTIME Sports. “Miguel Cotto is an icon not only in the boxing world but also to New York sports fans. Bringing him back to this city to fight an undefeated champion in Austin Trout at Madison Square Garden is a perfect way to cap off what has been a landmark year for World Championship boxing on SHOWTIME.”

“We are excited to welcome the great Puerto Rican champion Miguel Cotto back to his home, Madison Square Garden, the Mecca of Boxing,” said Joel Fisher, executive vice president, MSG Sports. “Miguel is New York’s most popular fighter, and we’re thrilled that area boxing fans will be able to see him in our historic building – that will just have completed phase two of our transformation – once again.”

Tickets priced at $500, $300, $200, $100 and $50, not including applicable service charges and taxes, go on sale on Tuesday, September 25 at 1:00 p.m. ET. They can be purchased at the Madison Square Garden Box Office, all Ticketmaster outlets, Ticketmaster charge by phone (866-858-0008) and online at www.ticketmaster.com or www.thegarden.com.

27-year-old Austin “No Doubt” Trout (25-0, 14 KO’s) has been boxing since the age of 10, but the 2004 United States amateur champion didn’t begin making noise in the sport until he began mowing through opponent after opponent while maintaining an undefeated professional record. By the tail end of 2009, he was 20-0 and the WBA international, WBA Fedelatin, and WBC Continental Americas super welterweight champion, but fights were hard to come by. In February of 2011 though, Trout emerged and captured a world championship by defeating Rigoberto “El Español” Alvarez, Canelo’s older brother, for the WBA Interim Super Welterweight World Championship. He has since been elevated to full champions and defended his belt successfully three times against David “Destroyer” Lopez, Frank “The Italian Stallion” LoPorto and Delvin Rodriguez, setting up the fight of his life on December 1 against Miguel Cotto.

For more information, visit www.promocionesmiguelcotto.com, www.goldenboypromotions.com, and www.thegarden.com, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/RealMiguelCotto, www.twitter.com/GoldenBoyBoxing, www.twitter.com/NoDoubtTrout, www.twitter.com/MSGSportsNYC, www.twitter.com/SHOsports, follow the conversation using #CottoTrout or become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GoldenBoyBoxing or www.facebook.com/SHOsports.

Cotto to face Trout on December 1st

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, WBA Super Welterweight champion Austin Trout will take on former three division champion Miguel Cotto on December 1st at Madison Square Garden.

“I officially announce that my fight on Dec. 1st at MSG will be with the undefeated WBA (junior middleweight titlist) Austin Trout,” Cotto wrote.

“I’m trying to put this legacy together and this is what I needed. I am ecstatic right now,” Trout told ESPN.com. “I get to check off a few things on my bucket list with this fight. I get to fight in the Garden, I get to fight a superstar in the Garden, and I get to fight on HBO, if that’s where this fight is.”

Both HBO and Showtime are negotiation to televise the fight.

“We are teaming up with Golden Boy for aspects of the promotion, but Miguel doesn’t have any promotional ties to any company and that’s the way it’s going to remain,” said Cotto’s attorney Gabriel Penagaricano.

“We explored the Pacquiao fight,” Penagaricano said. “We discussed it for several days but there was no agreement. The weight was an issue and we didn’t agree on all relevant aspects of the deal, so at the end, there was no agreement. After that didn’t work out, we had a had a short list of candidates and Miguel picked Trout.

“He’s undefeated, he’s a good challenge, he’s a world champion and that was attractive to Miguel. The world title aspect and the undefeated record were most attractive in making the selection.”

Trout found out that he had gotten the fight by phone from his promoter, Greg Cohen, on Friday and said he did not believe him at first.

“He told me and I said, ‘Get out of here,’ ” Trout said. “There had been talks before so I didn’t believe him. Greg said, ‘So how does “Trout-Cotto” sound to you?’ I said, ‘Great,’ but I didn’t think he was serious. He said, ‘This is happening.’ It’s a miracle for Cotto to take this kind of fight. I’m gonna take full advantage of this opportunity. I feel like going to train right now.”

“I don’t want to step on Cotto because the only night he can get the Garden is Dec. 1,” Arum said. “So that means we then take Dec. 8. Hopefully, Miguel winds up on HBO and we’ll go on pay-per-view the next week. That’s the idea.”

“I’ve done that before, going to other people’s house,” he said. “I went to Mexico twice for title fights and I will take that experience with me. I’m ready for it. I’ve been through the Mexican fans. The Puerto Rican fans are passionate as well, but I’ve had my seasoning.

“I am definitely a fan,” he said. “I watched him coming up with Top Rank. I’ve been watching him for a while. I will prepare for the Cotto that gave Mayweather his fight next to (the first fight he had with Jose Luis Castillo). I know the jab will be important. I’ll step around him. I saw how Pacquiao did it to him and I think I have better footwork than Pacquiao.

Pacquiao the convert, Bradley the shameless

Manny Pacquiao can be beaten, but this is not news because any man who ties gloves on his fists and makes combat with large and good enough men will be beaten eventually. Manny Pacquiao can be beaten by the man he faces Saturday, and this is news. It is not an outcome aficionados have allowed-for in a Pacquiao fight since at least Miguel Cotto but probably Oscar De La Hoya – and nobody knew what the hell was going to happen in that fight.

Pacquiao was unofficially beaten by Juan Manuel Marquez in November, yes, but you couldn’t find three people to predict it aloud in the MGM Grand Media Center during fightweek. It will be different this week. Pacquiao has not looked sensational against another prime fighter since his second tilt with Marquez in 2008 – another fight he may have lost with every scorecard in an honest hand. None of his recent opponents, not even Marquez seven months ago, prepared him for what he’ll see Saturday, when he faces Timothy Bradley at MGM Grand for the WBO welterweight title.

Bradley, 7-0 in world title fights, is an undefeated 28-year-old volume puncher who leads with his head. That sentence comprises everything needed to beat a subprime Pacquiao.

It has been more than five years since Pacquiao faced someone who had no idea how to lose, and that was the overmatched Jorge Solis at Alamodome in a fight with more anxious moments than one infers today from its boxscore. Those moments came behind a collision of heads that caused a cut to drop blood in Pacquiao’s eye, much as had happened two years before in the last prizefight Pacquiao lost – when Erik Morales took notice of the queasy look Pacquiao showed him after a visit to the ringside doctor. The Solis cut, too, brought a queasy look, one followed immediately by Pacquiao thrice making the Sign of the Cross – forehead to breastbone, left shoulder to right – in rapid succession, before tearing into Solis with a savageness unpredicted by any previous act in the fight.

The Sign of the Cross is a thing young Catholics learn to make in anxious situations, an emergency petition of sorts: I could be in over my head, here, so please watch over me. Pacquiao learned to do it as a child, like millions of others, and has continued to do it through a career that, as discovered in this match’s promotion, saw him occasionally eschew the teachings of Rome. Pacquiao’s rededication to his Catholic faith is sincere, but like other sincere initiatives Pacquiao has launched – like eradicating world poverty with yellow gloves – this one looks flighty.

It should be a private matter, either way, Pacquiao’s born-again Catholicism during a prizefight promotion, but as a matter that exploits Americans’ dual fascinations with evangelism and salesmanship, it was too rich for HBO not to shine its documentary light on – as part of a “24/7” programming concept, once innovative in 2007, that now covers mostly itself and predicts storylines it once discovered.

Pacquiao’s unconventional conversion is a bit relevant, too, because a fighter is not supposed to “feel empty inside” during training camp. If he is not too physically exhausted and mentally obsessed with another man’s injury to partake of such flummery, he’s likely not throwing hard enough at the heavybag. Or is that too ungentle for this era? Well. Can you imagine Marvelous Marvin Hagler, cloistered at the Provincetown Inn – the better to marinate in hatred and rage – having a telegenic advisor to ensure his spirit felt fulfilled? Heavens.

Just another part of the Pacquiao mystique, we are told. The soap-operatic entourage, the constituents in Sarangani Province, record deals, lawsuits and countersuits, the feuding corner, training breaks for Bible study; none of these is a distraction because Pacquiao has preternatural focus in the prizefighting ring. Or he’s been well-matched.

Inherent in most aficionados’ Pacquiao fight predictions has been a wager like this: Too much money to be made in a Floyd Mayweather fight for promoter Top Rank to risk it with a miscue. This has been a well-placed bet on the legendary marriage of matchmaker Bruce Trampler’s prowess and promoter Bob Arum’s business acumen, and their continued assumption a superfight with Mayweather is still doable.

Timothy Bradley’s one other showing at welterweight, an unimpressive 2010 outing with Luis Carlos Abregu, also indicates a prime Pacquiao will have his hand raised Saturday. Bradley is special in his way, special in both style and character, but he is not quite special as a guy who went 4-1-1 (3 KOs) against the primest versions of his era’s three best Mexican champions, as Pacquiao did. When was that prime-Pacquiao last seen, though? Pacquiao is the variable, Saturday, not Bradley; if the Pacquiao who has been showing up since he decked Ricky Hatton makes a pre-concert appearance at MGM Grand later this week, he will get conclusively outworked.

We already know what a volume puncher like Bradley brings: a glorious sort of shamelessness. Bradley doesn’t care much where he hits you and cares even less if you stretch him; so long as he surrenders himself fully to his intensity and does what his corner tells him, he is contented. Bradley doesn’t have to worry about losing because he has never done so as a professional, and because a volume puncher knows quickly when someone is decisively better than he is, as Pacquiao will be, and finds euphoria in breaking that man’s spirit with a want of polish, an enchanting rudeness.

I’ll take Bradley, SD-12, then – with a dissenting 112-116 scorecard filled-out the day before.

Bart Barry can be reached at bart.barrys.email (at) gmail.com

Mayweather – Cotto generates 1.5 million PPV buys

The May 5th Floyd Mayweather – Miguel Cotto megafight was just that as it amassed 1.5 Million Pay Per View buys which equated to $94 Million.

“The 1.5 million number is actual reported numbers,” Golden Boy Promotions Richard Schaefer told ESPN.com. “The final number will definitely be bigger than what it is now.”

“Floyd Mayweather’s numbers are getting bigger and bigger and this number shows you the kind of draw he is,” Schaefer said. “He’s a superstar and able to capture the interest of a large audience. He has broken out of the boxing following and now has a mainstream following that is unmatched in the sport. The numbers keep getting bigger and bigger.”

The bout is the second biggest non heavyweight bout of all time behind Mayweather’s bout with Oscar De La Hoya

Above a Texas bullring, a reminder about Floyd Mayweather

SAN ANTONIO – Suspended above a bullring on a wire-mesh floor below a cinema-size screen, one story and 50 yards from where Cowboys Dancehall’s dancers danced, 75 or so aficionados gathered to look up to a gigantic image of Floyd Mayweather looping right crosses off Miguel Cotto’s left temple. They had arrived round 6:00 PM and sat through seven local-talent fights co-promoted by Jesse James Leija, and a pay-per-view co-main as well.

Although their view was front row of a movie theater that made customers stand, these aficionados enjoyed certain uncommon benefits: they were in a lively if respectful group comprising more serious observers than the folks downstairs keeping one eye on the Spurs game, there was instead of HBO’s audio feed the odd musical assortment that explodes from cowboy-bar speakers – Sir Mix-A-Lot opening for Garth Brooks – and there was the unexpectedly good event that went off above them.

Floyd Mayweather decisioned Miguel Cotto by unanimous scores, Saturday, in MGM Grand. The scorecards, while wide, were about what prognosticators expected, when in a reflection of bookmakers’ opinions, they favored Mayweather nine or so to one – with the one in that ratio usually having an ethnic or financial stake in picking the loser. Writers at ringside had the fight closer than the official judges, and ringside writers and official judges composed the matter’s sole authorities.

Nobody sincerely believed Cotto would win Saturday’s fight, and he did not. But Cotto made a fight more satisfying for spectators than any he had made since Manny Pacquiao stopped him 30 months ago. And make no mistake, it was Cotto who made Saturday’s fight. In round 2, he put Mayweather on the ropes – and Referee Tony Weeks left him there – and it led to a heap more abuse than Mayweather expected, all postfight protestations to the contrary.

In implying afterwards that his initial trip to the ropes was voluntary, that allowing Cotto to whale on his arms and sternum was plan A, Mayweather struck a curiously familiar note; those were Roy Jones’ words immediately after he sneaked past Antonio Tarver in 2003: I went to the ropes to entertain my fans. But in actuality, as the world soon learned, Jones went to the ropes because his diminishing reflexes and footwork allowed Tarver to put him there.

A similar hollowness accompanied Mayweather’s words because his fans, like Jones’ before them, generally want no part in a competitive spectacle. They do not watch a Mayweather fight to see their guy endangered or struck on the face a hundred times. They watch for a transcendent display, for proof that super heroes happen off the pages of their comic books.

What little vocal reaction happened above the bullring at Cowboys Dancehall, Saturday, came just as the bell rang to end round 8, Cotto’s best.

“He ain’t doing nothing!” somebody barked.

“He ain’t nothing!” agreed a second voice, its volume proportionate to its nervousness.

Then Mayweather gave them a rebuttal that was articulate (since that word has come out of hiding): I am a fighter, not an entertainer. It was what Mayweather said in the third round of his match with Shane Mosley, when he put his hands in a classic, high position and attacked the older man. It was a phrase he spoke in his fourth round with Victor Ortiz when he exploited the younger man’s weakness to cut his consciousness. And it was what he said for 30 of Saturday’s 36 minutes with Miguel Cotto. I am this, primarily this, and not what most of you think I am.

Something often missed by Mayweather’s detractors and ever missed by his devotees: Before he was “Money May,” master of the era’s race-baiting nuances, before he made pundits who should know better assign unprecedented import to his undefeated record, he was a fighter – a man who collected blows for a living.

There was a touch of requited love in the way Mayweather handled Cotto’s head on a break in round 4, something almost tender about it. Another man was speaking to him fluently in their first language – not hip hop’s Ali-copycat speak, not the cloyed and serenaded words the mercenaries sing to Money, not those adverbial clauses everyone spits at video cameras – but the language of professional combat in a proper tongue. It betrayed for a moment what most observers do not realize: Other fighters genuinely adore Floyd Mayweather because he is, at root, exactly as they are.

But other fighters also know what historians will uncover: There is a reason you must fight the fights. Mayweather beat Cotto, yes, but does any knowledgeable observer think he is, today, a stronger man for doing it? He is not. Mayweather was brutalized, softened, his health compromised, his life likely shortened some, in those 12 rounds with another professional puncher. It was what both men signed up for, of course, and if Mayweather was not enthusiastic about paying the tariff, he was still, and absolutely, good for it.

Historians, those plodding, careful men who assess records not hand speed, will note Mayweather never fought or beat, in his prime, a man who was favored over him. It’s too late to change that, and subsequently Mayweather’s legacy is for the most part settled. But then, respectfully, so is this: Floyd Mayweather was and is more of a fighter than he was or ever will be anything else.

Bart Barry can be reached at bart.barrys.email (at) gmail.com

FOLLOW MAYWEATHER – COTTO LIVE!!

Follow all the action from the MGM as Miguel Cotto defends the WBA Super Welterweight championship against Floyd Mayweather. The action begins at 7pm est/4pm Pac with a FIVE fight undercard featuring Canelo Alvarez defending the WBC Super Welterweight championship against the Legendary Shane Mosley. Jesse Vargas takes on former world champion Steve Forbes as well as DeAndre Latimore battling Carlos Quintana. Also bouts involving prospects Keith Thurman & Omar Figueroa Jr.

12 Rounds–WBA Super Welterweight title–Miguel Cotto (37-2, 30 KO’s) vs Floyd Mayweather (42-0, 26 KO’s)

Round 1 Trading body shots..Cotto lands a combo inside..Mayweather lands a couple body shots at the bell…10-9 Mayweather

Round 2 Right from Mayweather…Right from distance..Right from Cotto…Right from Mayweather…20-18 Mayweather

Round 3 Hard right from Mayweather…Right to body and head from Cotto..Jab..Counter right from Mayweather..lead right..Hard jab from Cotto..29-28 Mayweather

Round 4 Hard right from Mayweather…3 more sweeping rights…another right…2 shots from Cotto..39-37 Mayweather

Round 4 Great combos from Mayweather..Straight right hand…Right from Cotto..Mayweather lands a solid ..49-46 Mayweather

Round 6 Good right from Mayweather…jab from Cotto..another Jab..Left hook..Good right from Mayweather…58-56 Mayweather

Round 7 Uppercut from Cotto..2 body shots…3 punch combo from Mayweather…Left to the body for Cotto…67-66 Mayweather

Round 8 Body head combo from Mayweather…Cotto lands a right..Right to body..Uppercut from Mayweather…big uppercut..Good left from Cotto..Great action in the corner…77-75 Mayweather

Round 9 Right from Mayweather…Left hook and jab from Cotto,..Mayweather lands a body shot..87-85 Mayweather

Round 10 Cotto lands a left…right from Mayweather..left..Good uppercut from Cotto…97-94 Mayweather

Round 11 Straight from Mayweather..Good combination..quick left hook…107-103 Mayweather

Round 12 Hard combination from Mayweather…Huge upper cut wobbles Cotto another huge shot…117-112 Mayweather

117-111; 117-111; 118-110 FLOYD MAYWEATHER

12 Rounds–WBC Super Welterweight Saul Alvarez (39-0-1, 29 KO’s) vs Shane Mosley (46-7-1, 39 KO’s)

Round 1 Alavrez lands a body shot..Mosley lands a body…Jab from Alvarez..Left hook..Body shot…another body shot..Left hook…Mosley lands a right..Left hook from Alvarez…10-9 Alvarez

Round 2 Jab…left.Hook body then upstairs…body..20-18 Alvarez

Round 3 Good right from Alvarez..Headbutt causes cut over left eye of Alvarez…30-27 Alvarez

Round 4 Hard 3 punch combination from Alvarez…Hard right..40-36 Alvarez

Round 5 Hard left from Alvarez, snapped Mosley’s head back..50-45 Alvarez

Round 6 Right from Alvarez..Ripping 3 shots for Alvarez…60-54 Alvarez

Round 7 Hard head combo from Alvarez…70-63 ALvarez

Round 8 Mosley lands a combination on the ropes…Alvarez landing hard punches..79-73 Alvarez

Round 9 Short right from Alvarez…Hard body and head shots…right from Mosley..Wicked left from Alvarez…89-82 Alvarez

Round 10 Hard right drives Mosley back…4 punch combination…99-91 Alvarez

Round 11 Big Left hook from Alvarez…109-100

Round 12 Mosley trying…too little too late..Alvarez 3 punch combo…119-109

119-109; 118-110; 119-109 SAUL CANELO ALVAREZ

10 Rounds–Welterweights—Jessie Vargas (18-0, 9 KO’s) vs. Steve Forbes (35-10, 11 KO’s)

Round 1 Vargas lands a jab…10-9 Vargas

Round 2 Vargas lands a good left hook..20-18 Vargas

Round 3 Good combination work form Vargas…30-27

Round 4 Forbes sneaks in a right,,,39-37 Vargas

Round 5 vargas back to boxing…49-46 Vargas

Round 6 Good right from Forbes… 58-56 Vargas

Round 7 Trading body shots…Vargas lands a body shot and lead left hook…68-65 Vargas

Round 8 Forbes lands a looping right …Vargas 77-75

Round 9 Vargas landing good jabs,,,87-84 Vargas

Round 10 Vargas lands a jab…..97-93 Vargas

100-90; 97-93; 98-92 for Jesse Vargas

10 Rounds Super Welterweights–DeAndre Latimore (23-3, 17 KO’s) vs Carlos Quintana (28-3, 22 KO’s)

Round 1 Battle of Southpaws…Quintana working the body…10-9 Quintana

Round 2 Latimore lands a low blow…Right hook from Latimore..Latimore bleeding over left eyelid…20-18 Quintana

Round 3 Left from Latimore…Quintana lands a hard right..hard shots from Quintana against the ropes…30-27 Quintana

Round 4 Quintana lands a hard shot...40-36 Quintana

Round 5 Quintana lands hard shots on the ropes…50-45

Round 6 HARD STRAIGHT LEFT AND DOWN GOES LATIMORE….KENNY BAYLESS STOPS THE FIGHT

10 Rounds–Lightweights–Omar Figueroa (15-0-1, 12 KO’s) vs Robbie Cannon (12-6-2, 6 KO’s)

Round 1 Figueroa going to the body…BODY SHOT HURTS CANNON AND HE TAKES A KNEE…Nice 1-2…10-8 Figueroa

Round 2 Good body shot from Figueroa…Jab..Hard left..HUGE LEFT AND DOWN GOES CANNON…UP AT 9 AND FIGHT IS STOPPED BY RUSSELL MORA

8 ROUNDS–Super Welterweights–Keith Thurman (16-0, 15 KO’s) vs Brandon Hoskins (16-0-1, 8 KO’s)

Round 1 Thurman lands a left…right lead to the body…jab..Left hook to the body..Hard jab hurts Hoskins..Good body and head combo..Nice 1-2…10-9 Thurman

Round 2 Hoskins is hurt AND TAKES A KNEE…Nice left hook from Thurman..Left hook..Good right..20-17 Thurman

Round 3 BIG RIGHT HAND AND REFEREE RUSSELL MORA STOPS THE BOUT

Mayweather and Cotto won’t blink in trying to look for an edge and an outcome

LAS VEGAS – Floyd Mayweather Jr. generated cheers, boos and even a reaction from the stoic Miguel Cotto after a stare down Friday that lasted longer than anybody can remember in a ritual that has followed weigh-ins for as long as there has been an opening bell. For 70 seconds, they looked into each other’s eyes, maybe looking for a weakness or maybe looking for another clue to the outcome of Saturday night’s junior-middleweight fight at the MGM Grand.

Those dangerous eyes stayed locked, without a single blink, like lasers onto a target in a break from expectation and perhaps a sign that the Mayweather-Cotto fight will end in a surprise.

The biggest, of course, would be a Cotto victory. That’s the most unlikely outcome. Mayweather leaves very little to chance. Proof of that is in his unbeaten record (42-0, 26 KOs). He picks his opponents these days. In fact, he hires them, which helps explain why he will collect a $32 million before anybody even begins to count his cut of the pay-per-view revenue, concessions and ticket sales. According to contracts filed with the Nevada State Athletic Commission, Cotto (37-2, 30 KOs) will get $8 million. Not bad, but it’s a fraction, a quarter, of the record guarantee that further confirms Mayweather’s nickname, Money.

Maybe, that’s why Mayweather has been acting as cool and calm as any CEO with Wall Street-like wages already in his wallet. For him, there have been no worries. He weighed in at 151 pounds, his heaviest ever and one more than his official weight before his victory over Oscar De La Hoya in 2007.

“I feel comfortable at any weight,’’ Mayweather said.

Cotto was three pounds heavier at 154, the junior-middleweight mandatory.

No matter what the scale, the hired help is never supposed to have an advantage, no matter how minimal. From Mayweather’s perspective, Cotto looked as if he had struggled to make weight.

“He looked kind of dry, kind of drawn to me,’’ he said.

If anything, Cotto looked out of character after stepping off the scale and onto a side of the stage for a stare down that almost lasted past sundown. He started talking at Mayweather. From a man whose meals outnumber his words over any given day, it was unusual.

“I told him, he has never faced anybody like Miguel Cotto,’’ the Puerto Rican said. “That’s the reason he’s undefeated and that’s the reason I will win on Saturday night.’’

The unusual stare down was punctuated by a backstage controversy that erupted behind curtains that hid the scale from the weigh-in crowd of about 6,000. Mayweather and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, who faces Shane Mosley on the undercard, will have to get new gloves for Saturday night’s fight. The gloves they had planned to wear included thumbs made in plastic. Mosley trainer Nazim Richardson said that plastic cuts more easily than leather. Richardson spotted plaster-like inserts in the gloves Antonio Margarito tried to wear before he lost to Mosley in 2009. When Richardson complains about gloves, regulators listen. The Nevada Commission ordered that Mayweather and Alvarez get gloves with thumbs made in leather. New Grant-made gloves are expected to arrive in Las Vegas from New York some time before Saturday night’s card.

What else can happen? Anything.

Everything, said Cotto, who was asked whether his best chance at upset rested with his proven arsenal of body punches.

“I can’t just go to the body,’’ he said. “I have to be on top of everything.

“If he wants to fight, I’m ready. If he wants to run, I’m ready for that. I’m ready for everything.’’

Mosley (46-7-1, 39 KOs) wasn’t ready for the scale. At least, not the official one. He was a half-pound heavier than the mandatory 154 for his shot at the World Boxing Council junior-middleweight title held by Alvarez (39-0-1, 29 KOs). After a run, he returned to the scale an hour later and made weight.

“I was on weight, but on a different scale,’’ Mosley said. “I ran, sweated it off. No problem.’’

The 21-year-old Alvarez, who is 19-years younger than Mosley, had no problem in his first trip to the scale. He was 154 pounds.

In a welterweight bout on the HBO telecast, Jessie Vargas (18-0, 9 KOs) of Las Vegas weighed 146 pounds. Steve Forbes (35-10, 11 KOs), also of Las Vegas, was 146.5. In the first bout on the pay-per-view telecast, junior-middleweight DeAndre Latimore was 154.5 pounds and Carlos Quintana (28-3, 22 KOs) was at 154.

ANTONIO “MAGIC MAN” TARVER PREVIEWS FLOYD MAYWEATHER vs. MIGUEL COTTO

TAMPA, FL, May 2 – With the training camp for his June 2nd SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING main event against unbeaten Lateef Kayode heating up, former light heavyweight champion and current IBO Cruiserweight champion Antonio “Magic Man” Tarver took time out from his busy schedule to check in with his thoughts on another high-profile matchup – the May 5th meeting between Floyd Mayweather and Miguel Cotto,

“I think that Mayweather’s coming in with all the natural God-given ability and talent, and Cotto comes in with the physical game,” said Tarver, who also doubles as a ringside analyst for SHOWTIME. “But we’ve seen Cotto beat, and beaten bad on two occasions. He was outclassed against (Manny) Pacquiao, and he took a beating against (Antonio) Margarito. We haven’t seen that with Floyd Mayweather yet. I think he (Mayweather) is at the top of the game right now, and he’s gonna have more options to do the things that he does in the ring.”

Yet despite the odds, Tarver doesn’t count the 154-pound world champion from Puerto Rico out against the unbeaten “Money” Mayweather, even though he believes Cotto will have to throw the boxing equivalent of a perfect game in Las Vegas.

“Cotto’s gonna have to be perfect,” said Tarver, who upset 5 to 1 odds in his most recent bout, knocking out Danny Green in the ninth round last July. “Cotto’s gonna have to be physical, have his defense intact, and he’s gonna have to match Floyd. When Floyd opens up, he’s gonna have to punch with him. That’s how you negate speed, and that’s a big risk, but his reward is so gigantic that’s he’s gonna have to be willing to lay it all on the line and if has to go out on his shield, go out trying to get that victory.”

As for Mayweather, Tarver is looking forward to seeing what his teammate on the 1996 United States Olympic boxing team has in store, not just on May 5th, but in the future.

“Floyd’s gonna have to keep doing what he’s doing, and in two or three more fights, he can ride out into the sunset,” he said. “Hopefully Pacquiao’s in the scheme of things and we can see that fight eventually. That would be great if he could pull that off. If he beats Pacquiao, he’s one of the greatest of all-time and not too many people can say that.”

The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calf., hosts a SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING quadruple header on Saturday, June 2 (9:00 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the West Coast).

Current IBO Cruiserweight Champion and former Light Heavyweight World Champion Antonio “Magic Man” Tarver (29-6, 20 KO’s) faces unbeaten Lateef Kayode (18-0, 14 KO’s) in a

12-round cruiserweight fight. In the co-feature, former undisputed junior middleweight kingpin Winky Wright (51-5-1, 25 KO’s) returns to the ring to meet undefeated Peter Quillin (26-0, 20 KO’s) in

a middleweight bout. In two world championship fights on the telecast, Austin Trout (24-0, 14 KO’s) risks his perfect record and WBA Super Welterweight belt against Delvin Rodriguez (26-5-3, 14 KO’s) and IBF number one rated bantamweight contender Vusi Malinga (20-3, 12 KO’s) faces top Golden Boy Promotions prospect and IBF number five rated contender Leo Santa Cruz (19-0-1, 11 KO’s) for the vacant IBF bantamweight title.

Tickets for the June 2 bout are on sale now and are available as low as $25, with VIP floor seats priced at $200. Other tickets in the 8,000-seat outdoor stadium at The Home Depot Center are available at $50 and $100. Fans can purchase tickets at www.axs.com or by phone at 888-9-AXS-TIX (888-929-7849, as well as The Home Depot Center Box Office (open Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. PT). VIP Suites are available for purchase by calling 1-877-604-8777. For more information on group discounts or VIP packages, please call 1-877-234-8425.

This night of world class professional boxing is presented by A.T. Entertainment, Golden Boy Promotions and Gary Shaw Productions and sponsored by Corona and AT&T. Trout vs. Rodriguez is presented in association with Greg Cohen Promotions and Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing and Malinga vs. Santa Cruz presented in association with Branco Sports Productions.

Undefeated star-in-making Demetrius Andrade headlines May 5 at Mohegan Sun Plus Mayweather-Cotto closed circuit broadcast

BRONX, NY (April 26, 2012) – Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing will celebrate Cinco de Mayo with an exciting pro boxing card featuring a legitimate star-in-the-making, undefeated 2008 U.S. Olympian Demetrius “Boo Boo” Andrade, on Saturday night, May 5 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.

Light middleweight contender Andrade (16-0, 11 KOs) faces The Contender, Season Two participant Rudy Cisneros (12-3, 11 KOs) in the 10-round main event, which will air live (10-11 PM / ET) as an ESPN Boxing: FNF Special Edition presented by Corona Extra.

After the live boxing concludes, fans in attendance will have the added enjoyment of watching a closed circuit showing of the Floyd Mayweather, Jr. vs. Miguel Cotto fight on Mohegan Sun Arena’s jumbo screen.

“Demetrius Andrade has clearly graduated from prospect to contender,” Star Boxing president Joe DeGuardia said. “He’s getting close to a world title shot. We’re very happy to be back at one of the best venues in boxing, Mohegan Sun Arena, where Demetrius has become a genuine house favorite. Fans there can watch an entertaining live card, plus Mayweather-Cotto without leaving the comfort of their seats. I think ESPN showcasing Demetrius on a special Saturday night broadcast is a strong indication of how highly he’s respected in the boxing world as a potential star.”

The 24-year-old Andrade has been rising in world light middleweight ratings, recently moving to No. 6 in the World Boxing Organization (“WBO”) and No. 7 in the International Boxing Federation (“IBF”), as well as No. 15 in the World Boxing Council (“WBC”) and World Boxing Association (“WBA”).

Fighting out of nearby Providence, Andrade was a 2007 World amateur champion who will be fighting at Mohegan Sun for the sixth time. The gifted Cape Verdean boxer is co-promoted by Star Boxing and Banner Promotions

Andrade has been favorably compared to a younger, heavier, left-handed Mayweather due to their similar boxing styles, featuring lightning-quick feet and hands, incredible defensive reflexes and strings of dominant victories. “Boo Boo” has stopped of 11 of 16 opponents, collectively winning 57 of 61 rounds fought on the judges’ scorecards.

In his last fight February 10 at Mohegan Sun, Andrade absolutely smoked Angel Hernandez (30-10), stopping the former world title challenger in the second round, coming on the heels of solid back-to-back victories against former world title challenger Saul Duran (TKO3) and veteran Grady Brewer, winner of The Contender II television reality series.

The subject of a feature story in the current edition of The Ring Magazine, Andrade is a multi-gifted southpaw who is co-promoted by Star Boxing and Banner Promotions.

The May 5th supporting fights will include some of New England’s most popular boxers. The eight-round co-feature marks the long-anticipated return of Hartford fan favorite Addy Irizarry (8-5, 2 KOs), who has been sideline since November 20, 2010, after suffering a fractured ankle during a first-round loss to former International Female Boxing Association (“IFBA”) World welterweight champion Jill Emery. Irizarry faces Victoria Cisneros.

Undercard fighters include Hartford super featherweight Joseph “Chip” Perez (7-1, 2 KOs) vs. Juan Jaramillo (8-9-2, 3 KOs) in a six-round bout, as well as Hartford light heavyweight Tylon “Shadow Boi” Burris (1-0, 1 KO vs. pro debuting Robert Jackson, Springfield (MA) light heavyweight Reinaldo Graceski (1-0) vs. Borngood Washington, and Windsor (VT) light middleweight Chris Gilbert (3-0, 2 KOs) vs. TBA in four-round matches.

Tickets are $75.00, $40.00 and $30.00 (plus $5.00 facility fee for all tickets) and are on sale now through Ticketmaster. Ticketmaster customers may log on to ticketmaster.com; call Ticketmaster’s national toll free Charge By Phone number 1.800.745.3000; or visit any Ticketmaster outlet. Tickets are also available at the Mohegan Sun Box Office, subject to availability, or by calling Star Boxing at 1.718.823.2000 and online via www.StarBoxing.com.

For more information go online to www.starboxing.com or www.mohegansun.com.

FORMER WORLD CHAMPION STEVE FORBES STEPS IN TO FACE UNDEFEATED PHENOM JESSIE VARGAS ON MAY 5 “RING KINGS: MAYWEATHER VS. COTTO” PAY-PER-VIEW UNDERCARD

LOS ANGELES, April 26 – With Alfonso Gomez forced to withdraw from his scheduled May 5 bout against undefeated rising star Jessie Vargas on the “Ring Kings: Mayweather vs. Cotto” pay-per-view undercard due to a back injury, the call went out for someone willing to step up and face the unbeaten rising star on short notice. Former World Champion Steve “2 Pounds” Forbes answered the call without hesitation, ready to step into the ring at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas to face Vargas in a 10-round welterweight bout.

“I am so excited to have been given the opportunity to fight on the May 5th fight card,” said Forbes. “It is an honor to be on the same card with such great champions. I am not going to overlook Jessie. We both have a lot riding on this fight and I look forward to showing him what I have in the ring.”

22-year old Las Vegas product Jessie Vargas (18-0, 9 KO’s) has long been on the media’s top prospects list thanks to wins over Arturo Morua, Walter Estrada and former World Champion Vivian Harris, but on the Mayweather vs. Ortiz undercard last September, he moved from prospect to contender with an exciting 10-round split decision victory over fellow young contender Josesito Lopez. Eager to keep the momentum going, Vargas scored a near-shutout win over Lanardo Tyner in February, and now he’s hoping to add Steve Forbes to his list of high-profile vanquished foes.

A veteran of over 15 years in the sport, Steve “2 Pounds” Forbes (35-10, 11 KO’s) has been in with the best of the business, including world champions Oscar de la Hoya, Cornelius Bundrage, Carlos Hernandez and Andre Berto. A former IBF junior lightweight world champion and star of the hit series “The Contender,” the 35-year old Forbes hopes that a win over the unbeaten Vargas will kick start an exciting run for him in the 147 pound weight division.

# # #

“Ring Kings: Mayweather vs. Cotto,” a 12-round fight for Cotto’s WBA Super Welterweight World Championship and the vacant WBC Super Welterweight Diamond belt, is promoted by Mayweather Promotions, Golden Boy Promotions and Miguel Cotto Promotions. Also featured will be Canelo Alvarez vs. Sugar Shane Mosley, a 12-round fight for Canelo’s WBC Super Welterweight World Championship which is presented in association with Canelo Promotions and Sugar Shane Mosley Promotions and a 10-round welterweight fight featuring undefeated rising star Jessie Vargas and former World Champion Steve Forbes. Opening the pay-per-view broadcast will be a 10-round bout between super welterweight contender DeAndre Latimore and former World Champion Carlos Quintana which is presented in association with DiBella Entertainment. The mega event is sponsored by Corona, Hatfields & McCoys on HISTORY™, DeWalt Tools, AT&T, O’Reilly Auto Parts and Puebla – Cinco De Mayo and will take place Saturday, May 5 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View® beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT.

Limited tickets for “Ring Kings: Mayweather vs. Cotto” are still available, with a total ticket limit of ten (10) per person. To charge by phone with a major credit card, call Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000. Tickets also are available for purchase at www.mgmgrand.com or www.ticketmaster.com.

Three Las Vegas MGM Resorts, Mandalay Bay, Monte Carlo and The Mirage, will host live closed circuit telecasts of “Ring Kings: Mayweather vs. Cotto.” Advanced purchased tickets for the closed circuit telecasts are priced at $75, not including handling fees. All seats are general admission and are on sale now at each individual property’s box office outlets or by phone with a major credit card at (866) 799-7711.

Episode three of HBO’s all-access reality series 24/7 MAYWEATHER/COTTO debuts on Saturday, April 28 (9:45 p.m. ET/PT), with the finale debuting Friday, May 4 (8:00 p.m. ET/PT), the night before the high-stakes super welterweight title bout. All four episodes will have multiple replay dates on HBO®, and the series will also be available on HBO On Demand® and HBO GO®.

NCM Fathom will broadcast “Ring Kings: Mayweather vs. Cotto” in high definition LIVE to more than 440 movie theaters nationwide. Tickets to see the fight on the big screen are available at participating theater box offices and online at www.FathomEvents.com.

Gomez out of Vargas bout on Mayweather-Cotto PPV

Dan Rafael of espn.com is reporting that Welterweight Alfonso Gomez was forced to withdraw from his May 5th bout with Jesse Vargas that was scheduled for the Floyd Mayweather- Miguel Cotto PPV undercard.

“Alfonso developed some serious back spasms (last week) and at first I thought he would just take a day off and rest. So we canceled sparring one day. But then we had to cancel a second day of sparring,” Saod Gomez manager Gary Gittelsohn. “And he never got much better.”

“But we gave Alfonso the weekend off to see if he’d feel any better,” Gittelsohn said. “The orthopedist said he didn’t think Alfonso was in any condition to do any running or strenuous activity. So that put him out of commission in critical moments of his training. So we canceled officially (Monday night) and I alerted Eric, who was disappointed as we all were. But these things happen. I’m so bummed.”

“I really felt like this was the perfect resurrection opportunity for Alfonso (coming off the loss to Alvarez) on the biggest showcase of the year,” Gittelsohn said. “We’re taking it day by day. I told Eric that I really want this fight for Alfonso and we hope it can be rescheduled down the line.”

“We were informed (Monday) night about this and we’re looking at some replacements,” Schaefer said. “I’m confident that Eric and Team Vargas will find a suitable replacement.”

Boxing Ring Kings Floyd Mayweather and Miguel Cotto Face Off on the Big Screen

Centennial, Colo. – April 10, 2012 – This Cinco de Mayo, boxing superstar and seven-time World Champion Floyd “Money” Mayweather will take on current WBA Super Welterweight World Champion Miguel Cotto in the big screen event, Ring Kings: Mayweather vs. Cotto Fight Live on Saturday, May 5 at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT. Broadcast in high definition to nearly 440 movie theaters nationwide from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, the highly anticipated match-up will give fans a ringside seat as Mayweathersteps up in weight to challenge Cotto for the super welterweight championship. Also featured on this blockbuster card, will be young superstar Canelo Alvarez facing six-time World Champion Sugar Shane Mosley.

Tickets for Ring Kings: Mayweather vs. Cotto Fight Live are available at participating theater box offices and online at www.FathomEvents.com. For a complete list of theater locations and prices, visit the NCM Fathom website (theaters and participants are subject to change).

Presented by NCM Fathom Events, Mayweather Promotions, Golden Boy Promotions, Miguel Cotto Promotions and O’Reilly Auto Parts, Rings Kings: Mayweather vs. Cotto Fight Live is the latest boxing event to be broadcast live in select movie theaters across the country through NCM’s exclusive Digital Broadcast Network. Fathom Events, Mayweather Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions first teamed up in September of 2009 to bring the highly successful presentation of Mayweather vs. Juan Manuel “Dinamita” Marquez fight to theaters. Fathom Events, Mayweather Promotions and Golden Boy also presented live boxing on the big screen in 2010 and 2011 including Star Power: Mayweather vs. Ortizlast Mexican Independence Day weekend.

“I love the fact that people can see my fights in movie theaters across the country,” said Mayweather. “Everyone knows when I fight it is nothing but lights, camera, action. Seeing it on the big screen is going to give fans a great experience. I say buy some popcorn, candy and a soda and enjoy the show because they are definitely going to get their money’s worth.”

Mayweather (42-0, 26 KO’s) is recognized worldwide as one of the best fighters of this generation and is always a major attraction when he steps in to the ring. In his last ring appearance, Mayweather took on the younger Victor Ortiz and showcased his boxing skills, taking Ortiz to school in the first three rounds before knocking him out in the fourth. Throughout his extraordinary career, Mayweather has faced boxing’s best including Diego Corrales, Jose Luis Castillo, Arturo Gatti, Zab Judah, Oscar de la Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Juan Manuel Marquez and Sugar Shane Mosley, yet remains an undefeated, seven-time world champion in five weight classes.

“This is the first time one of my fights will be shown in movie theaters in the United States. We have done it in Puerto Rico in the past, with great success,” said Cotto. “This gives my fans across the country a new way to watch me in the ring. It is exciting. Now there is no way to miss this great fight.”

Cotto (37-2, 30 KO’s) is Puerto Rico’s most exciting fighter, one of its greatest of all time and defined by his warrior spirit. He has held a world title every year since 2004 and has won 16 of the 18 world championships bouts in which he has fought. Capturing the WBA Super Welterweight title in June of 2010, Cotto took on then undefeated defending champion Yuri Foreman at Yankee Stadium, handing him his first defeat. He is coming off of the second defense of his title, which he defended with a spectacular tenth-round knockout of Antonio Margarito. With this knockout, he also avenged his July 2008 loss to Margarito.

“This fight card is going to be so electrifying with the action from both Mayweather vs. Cotto and Alvarez vs. Mosley that anyone watching it on the big screen in movie theaters across the country will have a fantastic experience on Cinco de Mayo weekend,” said Richard Schaefer, CEO Golden Boy Promotions. “We are pleased to have NCM Fathom as partners in this event and thank them for bringing championship boxing to the big screen for an unparalleled level of entertainment.”

With his ferocious and fan-friendly style in the ring, at just 21 years of age Alvarez (39-0-1, 29 KO’s) is Mexico’s latest boxing superhero. After turning pro at just 15 years old, Alvarez tore through the local competition in Mexico and to date has only one blemish on his record – a four round draw with Jorge Juarez (which took place in 2006). Since then no one has come close to beating him. Alvarez took home his first world championship in 2011 and defended it with knockouts of Ryan Rhodes, Alfonzo Gomez and Kermit Cintron respectively later in the year. On May 5, he faces his most significant opponent to date in Sugar Shane Mosley.

Having defined the word “fighter” for nearly two decades, Mosley is one of the most revered boxers of this era. A stellar amateur that just missed out on the 1992 Olympics, Mosley has gone on to strike gold as a professional. With his stunning defeat of Oscar de la Hoya in 2000, Mosley jumped to the top of the list of the best pound for pound fighters in the world. He held that position until losing his belt to Vernon Forrest in 2002 but has since climbed back to the top by being a regular in boxing’s biggest super fights from 2005-2011. With this fight against Alvarez, Mosley looks to win his seventh world title at 40 years old.

“Over the past few years, boxing fans have filled movie theaters across the country to see Mayweather take on the best fighters in the world,” said Shelly Maxwell, executive vice president of NCM Fathom Events. “This bout promises to be as exciting as the first time Mayweather appeared on the big screen in 2009 as he now moves up in weight to challenge Cotto for the super welterweight championship.”

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About National CineMedia (NCM)

NCM operates NCM Media Networks, a leading integrated media company reaching U.S. consumers in movie theaters, online and through mobile technology. The NCM Cinema Network and NCM Fathom present cinema advertising and events across the nation’s largest digital in-theater network, comprised of theaters owned by AMC Entertainment Inc., Cinemark Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CNK), Regal Entertainment Group (NYSE: RGC) and other leading regional theater circuits. NCM’s theater advertising network covers 177 Designated Market Areas® (49 of the top 50) and includes over 18,600 screens (approximately 17,700 digital). During 2011, nearly 671 million patrons (on an annualized basis) attended movies shown in theaters in which NCM currently has exclusive, cinema advertising agreements in place. The NCM Fathom Events live digital broadcast network (“DBN”) is comprised of over 700 locations in 167 Designated Market Areas® (including all of the top 50). The NCM Interactive Network offers 360-degree integrated marketing opportunities in combination with cinema, encompassing 42 entertainment-related websites, online widgets and mobile applications. National CineMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: NCMI) owns a 48.7% interest in and is the managing member of National CineMedia LLC. For more information, visit www.ncm.com or www.FathomEvents.com.

About Golden Boy Promotions

Los Angeles-based Golden Boy Promotions was established in 2002 by Oscar de la Hoya, the first Hispanic to own a national boxing promotional company. In 2007, in its fifth year of promoting, Golden Boy Promotions set a record by selling over 2.5 million in pay-per-view homes in a single night. Also in 2007, Golden Boy Promotions established the record for highest grossing pay-per-view homes in a single year with more than 4 million total. Golden Boy Promotions is one of boxing’s most active and respected promoters, presenting shows in packed venues around the United States on networks such as HBO, SHOWTIME, TeleFutura, Fox Sports Net and ESPN.

About “Ring Kings: Mayweather vs. Cotto”

“Ring Kings: Mayweather vs. Cotto,” a 12-round fight for Cotto’s WBA Super Welterweight World Championshipis promoted by Mayweather Promotions, Golden Boy Promotions and Miguel Cotto Promotions. Also featured will be Canelo Alvarez vs. Sugar Shane Mosley, a 12-round fight for Alvarez’s WBC Super Welterweight World Championship which is presented in association with Canelo Promotions and Sugar Shane Mosley Promotions. The mega event is sponsored by Corona, Hatfields & McCoys on HISTORY™, DeWalt Tools, AT&T, O’Reilly Auto Parts and Puebla-Cinco De Mayo and will take place Saturday, May 5 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View® beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT.

“RING KINGS: MAYWEATHER VS. COTTO” TELEVISED PAY-PER-VIEW CARD SET

LOS ANGELES, April 9 -The “Ring Kings: Mayweather vs. Cotto” pay-per-view card is set and some of the toughest competitors in boxing today will be featured when undefeated rising star Jessie Vargas faces-off against perennial contender Alfonso Gomez and, in the opening pay-per-view bout, exciting 154 lb. contender DeAndre “The Bull” Latimore takes on former World Champion Carlos “El Indio” Quintana. The two 10-round bouts will take place prior to the WBA Super Welterweight Championship between Floyd Mayweather and Miguel Cotto and the Canelo Alvarez vs. Sugar Shane Mosley WBC Super Welterweight title bout Saturday, May 5 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The event will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View® beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT. Bet on this great fight

Twenty-two-year-old Las Vegas resident Jessie Vargas (18-0, 9 KO’s) is one of boxing’s fastest rising stars with notable wins over Arturo Morua, Walter Estrada and former World Champion Vivian Harris. Last September on the Mayweather vs. Ortiz card, Vargas proved that he is one of boxing’s top contenders with an exciting 10-round decision victory over fellow contender Josesito Lopez. Eager to keep his momentum going, Vargas scored a near-shutout win over Lanardo Tyner in February and is now hoping to add Alfonso Gomez to his collection of high-profile wins.

As a member of the cast in the hit boxing reality series “The Contender,” Alfonso Gomez (23-5-2, 12 KO’s) became the fighter to beat as he defeated the show’s top contenders, as well as other top-tier opponents such as Ben Tackie, Jesus Soto Karass and World Champions Arturo Gatti and Jose Luis Castillo. A two-time world title challenger who faced Miguel Cotto in 2008 and Canelo Alvarez in 2011, the 31-year-old from Guadalajara begins another quest for the title on May 5.

Twenty-six-year-old St. Louis-native DeAndre Latimore (23-3, 17 KO’s) now resides in Las Vegas and the change of scenery has done wonders for the aptly nicknamed “Bull.” As a former super welterweight title challenger who lost a highly controversial split decision to Cory Spinks in 2009, Latimore is looking to regain momentum and battle his way back into title contention. With three consecutive wins, including a memorable 10-round victory over Milton Nunez in February, he is closing in on another shot at 154-pound gold.

Moca, Puerto Rico’s Carlos Quintana (28-3, 22 KO’s) is a southpaw like the St. Louis native Latimore; however, “El Indio” is more matador than bull, with his excellent boxing skills, which led him to a world welterweight title win in 2008 over a then-unbeaten Paul Williams. With wins over top contenders including Joel Julio, Francisco Campos and Nurhan Suleymanoglu, the 35-year-old Quintana has won three of his last four bouts, most recently stopping Yoryi Estrella in nine rounds in February of 2011.

Latimore vs. Quintana is presented in association with DiBella Entertainment.

“Ring Kings: Mayweather vs. Cotto,” a 12-round fight for Cotto’s WBA Super Welterweight World Championship is promoted by Mayweather Promotions, Golden Boy Promotions and Miguel Cotto Promotions. Also featured will be Canelo Alvarez vs. Sugar Shane Mosley, a 12-round fight for Canelo’s WBC Super Welterweight World Championship which is presented in association with Canelo Promotions and Sugar Shane Mosley Promotions. The mega event is sponsored by Corona, Hatfields & McCoys on HISTORY™, DeWalt Tools, AT&T, O’Reilly Auto Parts and Puebla-Cinco De Mayo and will take place Saturday, May 5 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View® beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT.

Three MGM Resorts International properties, Mandalay Bay, Monte Carlo and The Mirage, will host live closed circuit telecasts of “Ring Kings: Mayweather vs. Cotto.” Advanced purchased tickets for the closed circuit telecasts are priced at $75, not including handling fees. All seats are general admission and are on sale now at each individual property’s box office outlets or by phone with a major credit card at 866-799-7711.

HBO’s Emmy® Award-winning all-access series “24/7” premieres an all-new edition when “24/7 Mayweather/Cotto” debuts Saturday, April 14 at 9:45 p.m. ET/PT. The four-part series will air for three consecutive Saturday nights before the finale airs the night before the super welterweight championship showdown in Las Vegas.

Photo by Chris Farina / Top Rank

VIDEO: MAYWEATHER-COTTO BEHIND THE SCENES PRESS TOUR

Puerto Rico

NEW YORK

LOS ANGELES

VIDEO: Mayweather – Cotto Puerto Rico Press Conference

VIDEO: RICHARD SCHAEFER

Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer talks about all things Golden Boy including the May 5th showdown between Floyd Mayweather and Miguel Cotto

VIDEO: Floyd Mayweather roundtable discussion

Pound for Pound King Floyd Mayweather talks to reporters about his May 5th showdown with WBA Super Welterweight champion Miguel Cotto

VIDEO: Mayweather – Cotto NYC Press Conference

Pound for Pound King Floyd Mayweather and WBA Super Welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather meet the media at the Famous Apollo Theater to announce their May 5th showdown

FLOYD MAYWEATHER VS. MIGUEL COTTO PRESS TOUR

Los Angeles (February 17) – Seven-Time, Five-Division World Champion Floyd “Money” Mayweather and reigning WBA Super Welterweight World Champion Miguel “Junito” Cotto will officially announce their May 5 mega-fight with a press tour making stops in San Juan, New York City and Los Angeles beginning Monday, February 27.

The tour will reflect the magnitude of this highly competitive match-up between two pound-for-pound greats with one-of-a-kind press conferences in all three cities. Mark your calendars as you won’t want to miss it when Mayweather and Cotto come to town!

MAYWEATHER VS. COTTO: TOUR DATES AND CITIES

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27 SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO

2:00 p.m. AST Coliseo de Puerto Rico Jose Miguel Agrelot

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28 NEW YORK, NEW YORK

1:00 p.m. ET Famed Apollo Theater

253 West 125th Street

New York, NY 10027

THURSDAY, MARCH 1 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

1:00 p.m. PT Grauman’s Chinese Theatre

6925 Hollywood Blvd.

Hollywood, CA 90028

**ALL EVENTS WILL BE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC**

***Additional details will be announced shortly***

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Mayweather vs. Cotto, a 12-round fight for Cotto’s WBA Super Welterweight World title, is presented by Mayweather Promotions, Golden Boy Promotions and Miguel Cotto Promotions. The 12-round WBA Super Welterweight World Championship bout will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View®. More information on Mayweather vs. Cotto, including ticket on sale date and prices will be announced shortly.

When Profits Drop at Ford Motor Co., So Do Executives’ Rewards.(Originated from Detroit Free Press)

Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News April 10, 1996 | Brennan, Mike Apr. 10–Despite a healthy profit of $4.1 billion last year, Ford’s board of directors cut Ford Chairman Alex Trotman’s bonus in half and froze his salary in 1995.

Trotman wasn’t the only top Ford executive to take a financial hit because of lower corporate earnings, according to the automaker’s 1995 proxy statement to shareholders, released Tuesday.

Executive Vice President W. Wayne Booker, Ford Automotive President Edward Hagenlocker, Vice Chairman Louis Ross and Ford Financial Services Group President Kenneth Whipple also received little or no raises and smaller bonuses.

“We pay for performance,” said Ford spokesman Chris Vinyard. “And 1994 was a record year for Ford. While 1995 was the fourth-best year ever, compensation is tied to performance both long-term and annually.” In 1995, Ford earned $4.1 billion, down 23 percent from the record $5.3 billion in 1994. website ford stock price today

Trotman also was awarded 350,000 stock options worth about $1.1 million as of Tuesday’s closing stock price.

Stock options are a form of executive compensation tied to stock prices. Executives can buy stock at prices typically below prevailing market values and pocket the difference.

In the United States, Ford’s automotive operations earned $1.8 billion, declining $1.2 billion compared with 1994. A solid first half of 1995 was followed by a disappointing second half, due in large part to the cost of retooling more factories than usual to build redesigned models such as the Ford Taurus midsize sedan and the F150 pickup.

The board also weighed product quality and customer satisfaction in deciding how much to pay its top executives, Vinyard said, but neither counted as much as the lower financial results. go to web site ford stock price today

Even so, Trotman earned $5,431,354 last year, about $2.5 million less than in 1994. Much of the change came from a cut in his bonus from $6 million in 1994 to $3 million.

Ford’s chairman actually pocketed about $3.1 million last year, and had the remaining $2.3 million deferred to future years. How much he earns in deferred income is tied to the long-term performance of Ford and the future of Ford’s stock price.

It’s another incentive for Trotman to pull the right strings so that Ford stock price and profit levels increase.

It’s also the same carrot Ford’s board gave to the other top executives and to the board itself. Each director has agreed to maintain ownership in stock equal to five times the sum of the outside director’s annual board and committee fees, roughly $60,000 a year.

Ford last year adopted guidelines for people at the vice-presidential level and above that establish target ranges from one times salary to five times for Trotman.

Trotman has extended the one-time earnings target to 30 other key executives below the vice-presidential level, tying the bulk of Ford’s senior executives compensation to company performance.

The board also decided that as of last January, $10,000 of each director’s annual fee will be paid in stock, not cash.

Both Chrysler Corp. and General Motors Corp. have made similar moves to either fully or partially compensate board members with stock instead of cash.

Story Filed By The FREE PRESS, DETROIT, MI —– FOR ONLINE SERVICES:

Visit the Detroit Free Press Forum on CompuServe. Go DETFORUM.

—– C, GM, F, Brennan, Mike

Mayweather – Cotto lands on HBO PPV

Dan Rafael of espn.com is reporting that the May 5th showdown between Floyd Mayweather and WBA Super Welterweight champion Miguel Cotto will be distributed by HBO PPV

“It’s the best working with the best,” Leonard Ellerbe, one of Mayweather’s advisers, told ESPN.com. “We’re looking forward to the numerous platforms they stepped up and brought to the table to make this deal happen. The fans won’t be disappointed.”

“We’re thrilled that Floyd Mayweather’s fight with Miguel Cotto will be presented by HBO Pay-Per-View,” HBO Sports Head Ken Hershman said in a statement to ESPN.com. “We look forward to working with Floyd, Miguel, Mayweather Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions on this special event.”

Lucky punches and Paul Williams’ threat of a triple

The prizefighter formerly known as “Boxing’s Most Feared” has a problem with misfortune. Paul Williams, in his mind and his handlers’, has been a victim of bad luck. Williams’ trainer, George Peterson, sees no reason to make changes, Williams seems unsure if he’s ever technically lost, and Dan Goosen, who receives a promoter’s fee from Williams, says Miguel Cotto is a redemptive tale for Williams because Cotto just signed a big contract for a fight he will almost certainly lose.

With friends like these, Williams returns to battle, Saturday, against Japan’s Nobuhiro Ishida at American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Tex. Williams will be joined by IBF light heavyweight titlist Tavoris “Thunder” Cloud, in a match with Spain’s Gabriel “Chico Guapo” Campillo, and California heavyweight Chris (Chico Menos Guapo) Arreola. Showtime “Championship Boxing,” a program whose name deserves quotation marks round it this time, will broadcast the action on a couple of its channels and in Spanish, too.

The card is called “Triple Threat,” which is fitting; it is exactly what Williams’ career now faces. Having lost by 2010 Knockout of the Year to Sergio Martinez, and having won by 2011 Robbery of the Year against Erislandy Lara, Williams is in danger of making the sort of triple performance that would take him off premium cable in the future.

Is this just? Technically. Were he not going to make a rubber match with Martinez, one might argue, and many did, Williams did not deserve a rehabilitation match on HBO in July. HBO’s commentators caught this drift and effectively retired Williams in the final third of his match with Lara. That the judges’ decision went to Williams mattered little to anyone. Other events were unfolding.

Back to those in a bit. First, there is Williams’ ongoing implication that he is a victim of misfortune. This sets up a tricky conundrum for Williams. If luck was all it took for the southpaw Martinez to land an overhand left on Williams, one that cut Williams’ lights long before he landed facefirst on an Atlantic City canvas, luck is probably what got Williams his breakout decision over Antonio Margarito in 2007, his blowout rematch victory with Carlos Quintana in 2008, and his bizarre victory over Kermit Cintron in . . . OK, let’s not get carried away; luck may have had nothing to do with Cintron tossing himself out that California ring in 2010.

Luck is a poor choice of culprit for a prizefighter. It exists, sure, but it behooves no one to enter his training camp citing it. And not even luck can explain Williams’ collecting so many left hands from the southpaw Lara that observers had genuine concerns for his health in the championship rounds. Williams has no defense for fellow southpaws’ left hands, we now know – even if no one in Williams’ camp does.

But about those other unfolding events. Williams has lost favor in a way disproportionate to his performances. Never particularly popular – as a polite black man from Georgia, apparently, he offended multiple ethnic sensibilities – Williams nevertheless took a righteous path to his welterweight title by outworking Margarito and being ballsier than him in their 12th round. He then avenged a decision loss to Quintana, beat down Verno Phillips, decisioned Winky Wright and made a wonderful first match with Martinez.

But a curious thing went against Williams, very much the way it went against Juan Diaz three months or so before. Diaz, you’ll remember, made a close 2009 match with Paulie Malignaggi in Diaz’s native Houston. The decision could have gone either way, but Texas judge Gale Van Hoy gave the match to the hometown kid by a ridiculous margin, 118-110. So folks turned on Diaz.

Williams-Martinez I could have gone either way, too. But New Jersey judge Pierre Benoist favored Williams by an inexplicable 119-110 margin. And folks began to turn on Williams. Five months later, Martinez won the lineal middleweight title from Kelly Pavlik. A month after that, Williams watched in disbelief as Cintron dove through the ropes and exited their match on a stretcher, punching an ambulance door. When Williams and Martinez made their rematch in November 2010, Martinez was the prizefighter folks wanted to cheer, and Martinez gave them every reason to.

Another curious thing worked against Williams. Al Haymon, boxing’s quietest mastermind and Williams’ advisor, became a target of aficionados’ ire. Haymon, the narrative went, was chief among the reasons HBO Sports lost its way. Some of this was rival Bob Arum’s lusty spinning, and some of it was true.

Everyone h’d had enough of the Haymon-influenced regime at HBO Sports by the time Williams made his 2011 fight with Lara. When Williams spent most of the second half of that fight being abused by Lara, only to see his hand raised by majority-decision scores, Williams won the very ire aficionados had been saving for his advisor, ire that only grew when the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board – the very same group that took no umbrage with Pierre Benoist – suspended the three Williams-Lara judges.

Maybe there is something to be said for Williams’ finding a culprit in bad luck.

Ultimately, though, Williams has never stopped being in the ring what he always was: a freakishly large, volume-punching southpaw who makes entertaining matches against even difficult opponents. Outside the ring, his demeanor has turned a bit surly, but that surliness is honestly acquired. He likely feels wronged but has no idea by whom.

I’ll be in Corpus Christi, Saturday, for a couple reasons. First, Texas is my beat, and Art Museum of South Texas shares a parking lot with American Bank Center. Second, and more importantly, I do not want to think of myself as someone who wrongs Paul Williams. Boxing would be a better place if it were populated by more guys like Williams, and it will be an honor to cover him.

Bart Barry can be reached at bart.barrys.email (at) gmail.com

Alvarez – Mosley added to Mayweather – Cotto card on May 5th

Dan Rafael of espn.com is reporting that WBC Super Welterweight champion Saul Alvarez will take on future Hall of Famer Shane Mosley on May 5th in Las Vegas as part of the Floyd Mayweather – Miguel Cotto Pay per View undercard.

“This is more of a fight to prove myself. I know I didn’t look good in my last couple of fights and I really to make a statement in this fight,” Mosley told ESPN.com on Friday night. “I just want to get in the ring, fight a world champion and win another belt.

“I’m very excited and happy. It’s another chance for me to show that I still belong. He’s a young guy and it’s a tough fight, but I’m excited to get the fight. A lot of guys want to be in the position I am in to have this type of fight.”

Said Alvarez, “This is the fight I was looking for. Shane Mosley is a tremendous fighter with a lot of experience and big victories in his storied career. Even though I have enormous respect and admiration for Mosley, because he is a great person outside of the ring, my goal is to defeat him with a great performance.

“It’s Cinco de Mayo, so when you add Mexico’s biggest star to a card that already has Mayweather, the pound-for-pound king, and Cotto, Puerto Rico’s biggest star, and ‘Canelo’ is fighting Mosley, who is a legend, that is a huge night,” said Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer, who had been working for weeks on the fight.

“It was not an easy fight to put together because it is really a main event on its own and could have sold out a venue on its own or even been its own pay-per-view,” he said. “But this takes a mega event with Mayweather and Cotto, which is a huge fight and didn’t need any help at all, and takes it to a totally different level. With these two fights on the card, it’s one of the biggest events we’ve ever promoted. It will be a celebration of the sport of boxing, a shining moment for the sport. To have Mayweather, Cotto, Canelo and ‘Sugar’ Shane Mosley all on the same card, I get the chills thinking about it.”

“I have to give a lot of credit to Oscar,” Schaefer said. “He worked very hard on this to get this done. He did a terrific job. He pulled it together. He dealt with Canelo. It was challenging to secure the spot than getting the actual fight done. But Canelo knows it’s a big fight. When we met with him, he said he knows it’s a dangerous fight. Shane Mosley knows he has his back against the wall. He knows it’s do or be done and that makes a veteran that much more dangerous.” “Canelo said he’s going to go into the fight and make a statement and that would be to stop Mosley, because nobody has ever done that before.”

“I didn’t have any negativity about being the co-main event,” he said. “I know I am not a co-main event fighter, but I want to get in the ring. To fight someone like Canelo Alvarez will be tremendous for me at this stage of my career. I believe I’m a lot more experienced that he is. It’s youth against experience. It’s ‘Sugar’ against ‘Cinnamon.'”

“I have no grudges against Golden Boy, they’re a good company,” he said. “I can do business with them. I can do business with Top Rank, whoever is going to be fair. I wanted this fight, so we did what we had to do to get it. It would be great to beat somebody like Canelo to kind of show that the naysayers that say I’m old and can’t do it anymore and should retire are wrong. This will be the victory to show I am still here and I haven’t left yet.”

Mayweather – Cotto ON!!!

At today’s Licensing hearing for Pound for Pound king Floyd Mayweather, it was revealed that he will take on Miguel Cotto May 5th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Part of the licensing hear for Mayweather was to make sure he had an opponent and when asked, Mayweather responded with Cotto.

The hearing took place due to Mayweather’s plea to a assault charge that will land him in jail for eighty-seven days.

If granted the License, the fight will bring in major revenue for Las Vegas, which was part of the rationale for Mayweather’s delayed sentence.

It’s official. Boxing superstar Floyd “Money” Mayweather will return to the ring, step up in weight and challenge three-division World Champion Miguel Cotto for his WBA Super Welterweight World title in what will be a gargantuan showdown between two future Hall of Famers who bring excitement and fierce competition every time they step into the ring. Mayweather vs. Cotto will take place on Saturday, May 5 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. and will be televised live on pay-per-view.

Mayweather, a seven-time world champion in five weight classes, is excited to be facing the heavier, much-tested Cotto, who is the pride of Puerto Rico and has the experience, heart and determination to give pound for pound king Mayweather the toughest fight of his career.

“Miguel Cotto is a world class fighter who can never be taken for granted and continues to prove he is one of the best in boxing,” said Mayweather, whose only other fight at super welterweight came in a World Boxing Council (WBC) world title win over Oscar de la Hoya in May 2007. “It will be a challenge for me to compete with him at this weight, but this is the type of test I thrive on and gives me the motivation to train even harder. I have no doubt in my mind that my title belt collection will increase once again and Cotto’s reign as champion will come to an end on May 5.”

Cotto, coming off of the second defense of his title, a spectacular tenth-round technical knockout win over Antonio Margarito in December 2011, is ready to face Mayweather and believes he is Mayweather’s most competitive career challenge to date.

“I am here to fight the biggest names in boxing,” said Cotto who true to his warrior spirit that has distinguished his entire career has accepted this challenge to face the undefeated Mayweather. “I’ve never ducked anyone or any challenge in front of me. I have accepted everything to give the fans what they like…great and exciting fights. That is what the sport of boxing is all about; making the fights that the fans want and deserve to see. On May 5, stay tuned, because I will convincingly beat Floyd Mayweather.”

In addition to agreeing to the terms of the bout which will take place on Cinco de Mayo, one of boxing’s biggest weekends, both fighters have agreed to Olympic-style drug testing for the fight.

“Floyd always asks us to find the best available competition for him to fight and we have found that in Miguel Cotto,” said Leonard Ellerbe, CEO, Mayweather Promotions. “This is a very risky fight for Floyd as Miguel is a solid 154-pound champion who has already proven to have great boxing abilities and to be a very competent and strong puncher. This is a big test for Floyd, but as always I believe, he is the superior fighter with unmatched skills. This will make the difference and lead to another Mayweather victory the night of May 5.”

“What we have here are two champions of amazing caliber set to meet in the ring on May 5 and give boxing and sports fan one of the most compelling match-ups in the sport’s history,” said Richard Schaefer, CEO, Golden Boy Promotions. “Floyd Mayweather has already achieved worldwide recognition as one of the best fighters ever and Miguel Cotto is one of the greatest fighters of this era. I commend both fighters for agreeing to the fight each other on one of the biggest weekends for boxing and also commend them for agreeing to participate in Olympic style drug testing, a precedent set by Floyd, which continues to uphold the integrity of the sport.”

The undefeated Mayweather, (41-0, 25 KO’s), a seven-time world champion in five weight divisions, remains boxing’s biggest attraction, wowing crowds and generating record pay-per-view numbers each time he steps into the ring. During his extraordinary career, he has amassed wins over world champions such as Diego Corrales, Jose Luis Castillo, Arturo Gatti, Zab Judah, Oscar de la Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Juan Manuel Marquez and Shane Mosley. His last fight against then WBC Welterweight World Champion Victor Ortiz on September 17, 2011 not only showed his boxing skills, as he took the younger Ortiz to school in the first three rounds before knocking him out in the fourth stanza. He is also no stranger to appearing on the classic Mexican celebratory weekends such as Cinco de Mayo and Mexican Independence Day as his fight with Cotto will mark the fifth fight of his career to land on one of those weekends. Mayweather returns to face Cotto in an attempt to capture his eighth world championship.

Cotto (36-2, 29 KO’s), from Caguas, Puerto Rico, has held a world title every year since 2004 while winning 16 of the 18 world championship bouts in which he has fought. Puerto Rico’s most exciting fighter and one of its greatest of all time, Cotto held the World Boxing Organization (WBO) Junior Welterweight crown from 2004-2006, successfully defending it six times before vacating it to capture the WBA Welterweight title at the end of 2006, a title he held for nearly as long. After losing the WBA title to Margarito in July 2008, Cotto won his second welterweight belt in February 2009, knocking out Michael Jennings in the fifth round to become the WBO Welterweight champion. He lost the title in his second defense in November 2009, but captured the WBA Super Welterweight title in June of 2010 at Yankee Stadium in New York by stopping then-undefeated defending champion Yuri Foreman. Cotto successfully defended that title by stopping Two-Division World Champion Ricardo Mayorga in the 12th round in March of 2011 and, in his last fight, finally avenged his loss to Margarito, once again retaining his title and giving him true peace of mind.

Mayweather vs. Cotto, a 12-round fight for Cotto’s WBA Super Welterweight World title, is presented by Mayweather Promotions, Golden Boy Promotions and Miguel Cotto Promotions. More information on Mayweather vs. Cotto, including ticket prices, pay- per- view information as well as press tour dates and cities, will be announced shortly.

Cotto and Margarito, and a treatment of semi-satisfaction

The narrative of Cotto-Margarito II will say Miguel Cotto, inspired by tens of thousands of his countrymen within Madison Square Garden, gained a richly satisfying vengeance on Mexican Antonio Margarito in 2011, confirming everything he believed about Margarito’s criminality in their 2008 match and restoring Puerto Rican pride across the land. Ah, sweet revenge.

That narrative will have plenty of technical accuracies but will be, in its general fabric, something quite different from what happened. It will extirpate the anxious moments fans, and Cotto, endured through the match and sue posterity to change its semi-satisfying conclusion for what great imagery is conjured by: Cotto, TKO-10.

That was the official mark Saturday. After Margarito’s surgically repaired right eye swelled shut in the middle part of the fight, a ringside physician could abide no more of its closure before round 10 and waved the match off, one Cotto was winning by wide margins on all three official scorecards. Cotto was relieved and content. Margarito was defiant. It was a result whose satisfaction will grow with the years, one imagines, because right now it’s less than Cotto’s fans hoped for.

Before anyone rebuts that assertion, straining his voice to declare full satisfaction, he should ask himself: On Friday afternoon, if someone told me Margarito would be smiling and whooping at Cotto in Saturday’s final round, before giving an obstinate postfight interview and leaving the ring under his own power, would I have told that person “Completely satisfied in every way, thank you”?

How this fight is remembered, though, does tell us something about the way a known result affects subsequent reviews. For three years, knowing Cotto ultimately succumbed to Margarito in the 11th round of their first meeting, we have watched the precise combinations Cotto landed in that fight’s opening 15 minutes and told ourselves they were not effective as they appeared. Margarito walked through them; look, he’s nodding and smiling the whole way! And knowing the probability Margarito had hardening pads over his middle knuckles, we have also imagined Margarito’s every awkward right cross as ruinous to Cotto’s head and heart.

When we revisit Saturday’s rematch, we’ll play a similar trick on ourselves, admiring Cotto’s precise combinations, and forgetting the tension we felt as Cotto opened his eyes and bleeding mouth, wide, in the sixth round and hurriedly retreated the length of the canvas, post to post.

If the absence of a plaster-like substance on Margarito’s knuckles made a difference, its difference was not large as Cotto’s change in tactics. Though he never did manage to show Margarito a well-leveraged left hook to the body, not once in their 20 rounds together really, Cotto did do one thing much better in the rematch: He got on Margarito’s chest.

Margarito is a wild-swinging confusion of long limbs when he is comfortable and significantly less than that when he is not. Cotto’s trainer, Pedro Diaz, caught this while studying tapes of Margarito’s match with Shane Mosley and told Cotto to put his forehead under Margarito’s chin and push him backwards to the ropes – off of which Margarito fights worse than a novice. Cotto was able to lean on Margarito and endure the Mexican’s cuffing right hands, because without a running start Margarito doesn’t hit very hard at all.

Or maybe the knuckle pads were the difference. Ask someone who was at ringside.

At the risk of offending egalitarian sensibilities, sensibilities that tell an American his perspective is usually better than anyone else’s, it’s worth mentioning that a guy at ringside always has a better bead on a fight than a guy at home. There are elements to home viewing that are superior, yes – sometimes you’re even able to hear between-rounds corner instructions over network sales pitches – but you do not have the same feel for a fight that you would at ringside.

The punches sound different, with television microphones somehow flattening their acoustics and making them all equal. The crowd is an altered entity. From ringside, you are able to see the arena and all its moving parts in a panorama that, while noisy, lends you a deeper perspective on the event’s mood. The benefits of being in a press box are often overstated, but the benefits of being within 75 feet of gloved combat cannot be.

Does this mean every ringside scorecard is correct? No. There’s a herding element to ringside scoring – the way consensus-seekers fan out among press-row tables, telling you others’ scores before asking your own – that compromises what is later published. But when a ringside writer tells you his general sense of a result or crowd, give him the benefit of every doubt, no matter what you saw through television’s narrowing eye.

The ringside consensus seems to be that Saturday night was a joy for Puerto Rican fans who turned out to see Cotto gain vengeance. Is it possible a deep sense of relief is being misinterpreted as euphoria? It is. If Miguel Cotto didn’t think Antonio Margarito’s punches were nearly so hard this time as they were in their first fight, he did a hell of an impersonation of a guy who did.

But then, there is something about a larger man with a maniacal grin on his face and cornrows chasing after you that will always be unsettling – Margarito racingracngracing after Cotto, whooping, his feet a messwards back, his overright hand throwing, his heading bob a target, his up leftercut sailing.

There is something equally undoing, though, in Cotto’s cold precision, left hands followed by rights, all landing flush till victory.

So goes the seasoning of memories that shape a narrative hardening into fact.

Bart Barry can be reached at bart.barrys.email (at) gmail.com

Cotto Exacts Revenge, Stops Margarito in Ten!

It took him eight professional years to finally get the ‘fight’ that would have defined his career. And it took him three more years to finally get the win he desperately needed. Scoring the sweetest victory of his storied boxing career, Miguel Cotto can finally say that he defeated Antonio Margarito. For the Tijuana native himself, there was a chance for vindication or perhaps exoneration, but the man could only prove one thing in the ring. That he is a true warrior.

This was three years later from their epic classic that took place in Las Vegas, and the wear and tear were apparent on both guys. Still, fans in attendance got a sense that there was something special brewing whenever these two stood across from one another. Margarito entered the ring as the villain, not even slightly overwhelmed by the loud jeer of boos from the Madison Garden crowd. Cotto was the crowd favorite, backed by his avid Puerto Rican and New York fans that cheered tumultuously. One can’t remember the last time the building roared to this effect, probably not since Felix Trinidad downed William Joppy a decade earlier.

From the opening bell, it was clear what the Caguas, PR native’s strategy was. Plaster or no plaster, Cotto respected his rival’s fistic power and fought with more caution than he did in their first battle. It was the simple, stick and move, hit-and-not get hit type of a game plan. For Margarito, all he needed to do was replicate his predictable method of constantly pressuring and cornering Cotto in hopes to wear him down late.

Both fighters were older and slower, but their efforts were highly spirited. In the first three rounds, Cotto was able to side step and land fluid combinations. Margarito ate shots coming in, but was closing the distance as he aimed for his mobile foe to the body. The fifth saw back and forth action, as Margarito poured on and chased Cotto across to ring, digging shots to the midsection and smothering punches to make it a rough fight. Cotto didn’t succumb to pressure and dished back with much cleaner shots.

Perhaps it was obvious from how their first encounter unfolded, but Cotto knew he needed to pitch a perfect game to win this fight. Margarito’s injured eye was reinjured early on, and from the sixth round, there were concerns whether he could continue to fight. The pace picked up in rounds seven and eighth, but more in favor of Cotto, who was using all of his guile and dexterity to pepper his less dimensional foe. Margarito would not fold and often smiled and taunted, but his face told a different story.

In between rounds eight and nine, the doctors at ringside carefully examined Margarito’s right eye. They barely allowed him to continue. Margarito pounded his gloves to psyche himself and his opponent to engage toe-to-toe, but Cotto was smart and stuck with the game plan.

Again, the ringside physician and the ref assessed the Mexican’s condition after the ninth round and after a long plead to continue from Margarito and his corner, referee Steve Smoger did the right and humane thing and called this bout to a halt.

There was a huge sigh of relief from Cotto, who just scored the biggest win of his decorated boxing career. Margarito lost, but fought with a ton of heart and dignity. There was a look of disappointment, but hardly any dejection. He fought like a proud champion and left it all in the ring.

With the W, Cotto retains his WBA version of the jr. middleweight title and improves to 37-2, 30KOs. Margarito is now 38-8, 27KOs.

RIOS LETHARGIC IN STOPPING MURRAY

Things didn’t exactly go smoothly for Oxnard, CA’s Brandon Rios (29-0-1, 21KO) in his first significant trip to New York. First, he lost his WBA title on the scale after failing to make the 135 pound limit. In addition, his opponent, John Murray (31-2, 18KOs) from England didn’t cut him any slack either, providing a difficult challenge for the former lightweight sensation. It wasn’t the usual spirited and lively fought performance by Rios, who appeared sluggish in the first two rounds. Rios got the ball rolling in the third however, stunning his opponent with consecutive uppercuts on the inside and doing nice work to the body. Murray fought back valiantly and troubled his unbeaten foe in the next two rounds. By the fifth, exhaustion clearly showed in Rios, who was obviously in a very tough fight. It didn’t deter him from trying his best which was probably a good thing on the scorecards as he pressed on did his best to effectively win rounds with aggression. Murray was undaunted, but became a bloody mess in the sixth after eating a series of hard uppercuts from his younger counterpart. While Rios looked to be the more tired of the two, he still demonstrated superior technique and work rate that might have benefited him on the official scorecards. Murray was effective in spurts, attacking Rios’ midsection, but lacked the power to inflict real damage. In the eleventh, Rios’ uppercuts finally overwhelmed. Badly staggered, Murray deemed unable to continue, who was stopped on his feet at the 2:06 mark. With the win, Rios remains unbeaten, but is no longer a world title holder.

RODRIGUEZ OUTCLASSES WOLAK

They say boxing, rather than slugging it out is the smarter way to win. That’s what Delvin Rodriguez needed to do this time around to get the official W over his rival Pawel Wolak. It wasn’t the violent jr. middleweight slugfest that their first meeting proved to be, but Rodriguez and Wolak didn’t go too far to find one another, engaging in a closely contested battle over twelve rounds. Both combatants weren’t shy to walk up and down the stairs, landing effective shots to the body and head. Rodriguez appeared to find his comfort zone in the third, connecting with a well timed uppercut to the chin. Wolak did not phase, but like their first encounter, his eye began to redden. Things started to heat up in the fifth as Rodriguez was able to tag his Polish opponent with head snapping upper cuts, but Wolak soon returned the favor in retaliation. Most rounds were hard fought, but Rodriguez seemingly held the edge in terms of technique, cleaner shots, and overall ring generalship. Wolak charged in on the seventh, chasing his opponent and smothering him against the ropes, but Rodriguez was able to clinch and neutralize with shots on the inside. The Danbury, CT native was more relaxed in the eighth, throwing fluid combinations and swiftly moving in and out to avoid damage. Rodriguez relentlessly battered his bloodied foe in the tenth and final around, staggering him with a series of uppercuts and left hooks. Wolak (29-2-1, 19KOs) displayed a ton of heart and was able to survive the onslaught. Official scorecards read 98-91, 98-92, and 100-90 in favor of Rodriguez, who improves to 26-5-3, 14KOs.

JONES DECISIONS LUJAN IN A SNOOZER

Welterweight contender Mike Jones kept extended his unbeaten run to 26-0 (19KOs) by denying the challenge of former Margarito opponent Sebastian Lujan (38-6-2, 24KOs) of Argentina over twelve uneventful rounds. A right hand to the top of the head nearly dropped the Argentinean in the first round. From there on, it was Jones who was outworking his shorter foe with superior reach, landing jabs and occasionally finding his target with right hands. Lujan was able to evade a lot of punches by using his unorthodox stance to juke and jive, but wasn’t effective offensively. In end of the eleventh, Lujan let his guard down and lured Jones to land at will. Scores were 118-110, 119-109 (2x) in favor of the Philadelphian.

Fan favorite Sean Monaghan (11-0, 8KOs) wasted very little time in taking care of business with an impressive stoppage win over Adrian, MI’s Santos Martinez at 2:56 of the second round in cruiserweight action. All it took was a left hook to the body in round two for Long Beach, NY’s Monaghan to quickly dispose of Martinez (2-3, 2KOs) who failed to show any reason for the ref to allow him to continue after getting up from the knockdown.

Unbeaten light heavyweight Chicago prospect Mike Lee (8-0, 5KOs) won an easy fourth round TKO over Denver, CO’s Allen Medina (9-20-1, 1KO). After three one sided rounds, Lee unleashed a series of punches that dropped Medina, prompting the referee to step in to call a halt to the bout.