Boricua Bomber Miguel Cotto is in a sweet spot, maybe the high point of his stellar ring career right now and it took an overzealous but well-meaning Cotto fan to crystalize it for me on Monday night. This guy is Puerto Rican and he works as an apartment building doorman in Manhattan. In his admittedly biased view, Floyd Mayweather Jr. is no longer boxing’s only unbeaten superstar. “I make this argument,” he said, “Cotto may have never lost a fair fight which would make his record 39-0 and not 37-2. We know now that (Antonio) Margarito cheated with his handwraps in their first bout because he got owned by Miguel on Saturday night. “And, I got no proof here, but what if, what if it ever came out that (Manny) Pacquiao was using illegal drugs when he stopped Cotto in the 12th and final round? Ergo, that would make Cotto just as undefeated as Money Mayweather.” OK, stop laughing. Cotto’s Loyal Legion, about 20,000 of whom packed Madison Square Garden to see him pummel Cyclops Margarito, is entitled to brag on their revived hero. Back to the sweet spot, although his promotional deal with Bob Arum’s Top Rank expires New Year’s Eve, that company is ready to up the ante. Word is that Arum, who paid Cotto $5 million for the Margarito beatdown, may be ready to offer a three fight deal with a $7 million guarantee attached to each. Arum has said he can operate sans a written agreement, something he did with ex-middleweight king Marvelous Marvin Hagler. But I doubt this, what with hungry Golden Boy knocking on Cotto’s door and eyeing him as “The Franchise” as their anchor attraction when Brooklyn’s Barclay Center opens up next summer. Uncle Bob will get it in writing. In fact, Cotto abogado Gabby Penagaricano will also insist on this. One more thought on 31-year-old Cotto, and more on this later…I’m not prepared to say Cotto should replace Sergio Martinez on my personal Pound For Pound list but… If you’re just ranking superstars and their economic strength, then, yes, list the revived and reborn Cotto as Number 3, behind only Floyd and Manny. (I exclude the 50,000 tickets sold in a soccer stadium Klitschko Brothers here as a European regional attraction.) A rematch for Cotto with Pacman? Before Saturday night, it seemed ridiculous. Now, especially if Floyd-Manny never gets done, it seems feasible especially when you can take the rematch to New York or to Las Vegas. And Top Rank is not tied to the Garden, either, except by past preference. But that’s when MSG was the Big Apple’s only massive arena. Will Uncle Bob look to return to his boyhood BK roots? It could happen. Meanwhile, let the Cotto fanatics enjoy their recharged enthusiasm, they and their fighter earned it. ([email protected])
