Unlike most elite boxers, though, Cotto had been content to let Top Rank, the promotional company that had guided his career since he turned professional following the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, call the shots.
It would be Top Rank that would decide the who, when and where. Cotto was around to take care of business in the ring after all the papers were signed and the details arranged.
?That?s up to my company to decide,? Cotto would inevitably say when asked who he would fight next.
My company.
He became a star of the highest magnitude while fighting for Top Rank, earning millions of dollars, multiple world championships and countless significant victories.
He defeated Shane Mosley when Mosley was still a prime fighter. He destroyed Zab Judah. He outfought everyone who climbed into a ring with him.
These days, as Cotto prepares to defend his World Boxing Association super welterweight title on Saturday in a sold-out Madison Square Garden against Antonio Margarito, he?s assumed much greater control of his career?s direction. His future with Top Rank is tenuous, the relationship clearly not what it once was.
Those who once wielded the power in his camp are, for the most part, no longer around. Saturday?s bout, he points out, is the last on his contract with Top Rank.
He parted ways with his long-time trainer, his uncle, Evangelista Cotto, in early 2009. His father, Miguel Sr., who had a significant impact upon his career, passed away in early 2010.
He has his own promotional company now, as well as other business ventures, and so feels content to take a more active role in his own boxing career.
?I know the game, the business, all sides, a lot better now than I did before,? Cotto said. ?I can make decisions for myself. I know what?s best for Miguel Cotto, better than anyone else, you know??
