When Miguel Cotto takes to the ring to fight Sadam Ali in Madison Square Garden on Saturday evening it will be for the final time of a glittering 16 year pro career.
Despite the pressures (and doubtless to say the financial incentive) Cotto has confirmed that he will not be staying on after this fight to face either Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez or Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin.
Now 37, the Puerto Rican, has nothing left to prove in a career where he took on all comers, making for some memorable fights.
In an era where there are too many belts and far too often, tactical match-making takes precedent, Cotto can say he took on them all. And even though he might have lost the ones that mattered most, he won more than enough of the others to even the slate.
Cotto won his first 32 professional bouts (25 KO’s) before being stopped by tough Mexican, Antonio Maragrito. Cotto took some heavy punishment and it took his corner to sensibly throw in the towel in Round 11 to end his ordeal, Cotto would not have let that happen otherwise.
Before the defeat he had chalked up a list of impressive wins against Paulie Malignaggi, Zab Judah and ‘Sugar’ Shane Mosley as the WBA welterweight champion.
He regrouped and came back strong from the Maragrito defeat. Despite losing to Manny Pacquiao he got his wish of a rematch with Maragarito, scoring a very satisfying points win in which he gave his former conqueror a tactical masterclass in ring craft.
He went on to lose a controversial points decision to arguably the greatest of them all, Floyd Mayweather Jnr, and also lost on points to Saul Alvarez.
Yet Cotto’s stock has never lessened and he will always be known – particularly by those who got between the ropes with him – as an incredibly astute and tough fighter who deserves his place at the top table of the sport.
Recently, Cotto has – very harshly – received criticism for ending his career by fighting Ali, but he has hit back.
‘I feel that I have had an excellent career in which I have achieved the main thing, which is to offer a future to my family, and I never stop to think about what think or what others say, or expect someone to feel satisfied since my sole purpose throughout my career as a boxer has been to try to provide the best for my family,” said Cotto.
It would be fitting for Cotto to go out on a high, with a stoppage this weekend, but he is perhaps right not to take on another fight and he certainly has nothing to prove to anybody in the fight game. His career deserves credit – from anybody.
