WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto is no stranger to the city of Las Vegas, having fought in boxing’s new Mecca ten times as a professional and making various guest appearances throughout the city over the years. But it was Cotto’s last two Vegas pit stops that have left a lingering bad taste in his mouth with his July 2008 11th round TKO loss to Antonio Margarito and his November 2009 12th round stoppage defeat to Manny Pacquiao.
Those two fights serve as subplots of their own as Cotto makes his return to Nevada for his March 12th assignment against Nicaraguan terror Ricardo Mayorga at the MGM Grand. Cotto had been publicly adamant about wanting to gain redemption against both Margarito and Pacquiao, and has a tentative June rematch lined up with the ‘Tijuana Tornado’ if successful next month.
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According our friends at BoxingScene.com, Cotto will officially be landing in Las Vegas on Thursday to finish up his training for the first defense of the title he won from Yuri Foreman last summer. Cotto is currently in Miami, Florida, working under the watchful eye of widely respect trainer Emanuel Steward at the Heavyweight Factory Gym.
At 30 years of age and having taken some serious punishment over the past few years, Cotto may be closer to the end than some of us may think. Every fight at this point is crucial towards determining his final resting point in the sport of boxing. A Mayorga clash should be fun while it lasts but Ricardo isn’t looked at as the man to derail the Cauguas, Puerto Rican star.
It appears to be the battles that lie ahead that will truly tell us what Cotto has left.
