Words by Jason Cordner
Miguel Cotto has said his upcoming fight will be his last. The four-division Puerto Rican champion, now has an opponent after his promotional company looks to have made a substantial effort to secure the future Hall of Famer high-profile opposition.
After offers were made to pound-for-pound elites Errol Spence Jr. and Mikey Garcia, Golden Boy Promotions and Cotto went in a different direction. In his farewell bout, Cotto will fight former welterweight champion Sadam Ali on Dec. 2 at Madison Square Garden. The fight will be televised live on HBO.
The 36-year-old Cotto (41-5, 33 KOs) ended a 21-month layoff when he dominated Japan’s Yoshihiro Kamegai (27-4-2, 24 KOs) in their 12-round fight August 26 at StubHub Center in Carson, California. Cotto claimed the then-vacant WBO 154-pound championship by winning that fight.
The 29-year-old Ali (25-1, 14 KOs), a 2008 American Olympian from Brooklyn, has won three straight fights since Las Vegas’ Jessie Vargas (27-2, 10 KOs) stopped him in the ninth round of their March 2016 bout in Washington, D.C.
End Of An Era
Cotto will close out a career that’s included wins over Shane Mosley, Sergio Martinez, Antonio Margarito and Paulie Malignaggi, along with semi-competitive losses to the likes of Saúl Canelo Alvarez, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao.
