Delvin Rodriguez “very motivated” For Miguel Cotto

861by Lem Satterfield – Puerto Rican three-division title winner Miguel Cotto will face top rated contender and two-time world title challenger Delvin Rodriguez on Oct. 5, LIVE on HBO at the Amway Center in Orlando, Fla., site of today’s open-to-the-public press conference announcing the event.

“I’m feeling great,” said Rodriguez (28-6-3, 16 KOs), who is 33. “I’m excited. This is a great opportunity. This is an opportunity that I’m going to take full advantage of. I’m ready for the work. I’ve already started training, and I’m very, very motivated. I think that Cotto is a warrior, and he’s going to pretty much be coming forward”.

“I don’t think that I’m going to have to go looking for Cotto. It’s going to make it a great fight and a war, and that’s easier for me. People are probably going to expect me to be running around, concentrating on my defense, which is the opposite of what I’m going to do. I believe that Cotto is very effective when he takes an opponent to the ropes, but I’m going to keep him in the middle of the ring.”

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How Much “Boxing” Is Still Remaining In Miguel Cotto

cotto245Miguel Cotto never lacked the ability to bring entertaining to anyone watching his fights, and he did it all inside the ring. While he was a calm and professional gentleman outside of the ring, quiet and respectful during press conferences and weigh-ins, he was a relentless warrior once the ring bell rang.

What’s even more interesting is that every one of his opponents seemed to carry a tremendous amount of respect for him, praising and labeling him a true champion. I don’t remember the last time I have heard anything negative or aggressive being said about Cotto. He is a rare breed.

While there is a common belief that Cotto is no long the fighter he was, making that case is no walk in the park. Aside from losing to Austin Trout (which surprised me), his other three losses come by way of Antonio Margarito (I think that most would agree that this should not count), Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr.

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Left-Hook Lounge Mailbag: Mayweather/Silva, Canelo, Matthysse vs Garcia, & Cotto/Roach!!!!

Mayweather(Photo credit: Esther Lin/Showtime) Carlos H. (San Francisco, CA): On your FaceBook account you stated that Mayweather should “closely analyze” the defeat of Anderson Silva as he prepares for his bout with Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez. Explain that statement, as I don’t agree.

Vivek W. (ESB): I think too much has been made of my response to this question. My point was that you don’t just wake up one day and receive the consensus vote as one of, if not thee best of all-time in your craft.

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Cotto to be trained by Freddie Roach for Oct 5th comeback; Delvin Rodriguez likely opponent

cotto03Miguel Cotto (37-4, 30 KO’s) will be trained by Freddie Roach when he returns to the ring in a comeback on October 5th. According to ESPN, Delvin Rodriguez is the possible opponent for the 32-year-old Cotto, and HBO will be televising it.

Cotto vs. Rodriguez isn’t exactly an HBO type of main event fight, but hopefully the fight will be packaged with a good undercard, because as it is the fight is a mismatch. Rodriguez has already been beaten by Austin Trout, Ashley Theophane, Rafal Jackiewicz, Jesse Feliciano, Andre Eason, and Isaac Hlatshwayo.

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Sergio Martinez mentions Miguel Cotto As a Possible Future Opponent

martinez44While Google Translate didn’t do that great of a job translating a website form Spanish to English for me, the plot of the article was clear with one of the quotes by Sergio Martinez:

“One of the possible future opponents may be the Puerto Rican Miguel Angel Cotto,” Martinez said to diariouno.com.ar. If you are not excited about the possibility of this fight taking place, well you should be. While I see Martinez as more of a technical fighter than Cotto, Miguel is the type of fighter who will not make too many mistakes in a fight.

It has been a while since Martinez impressed his fans in a memorable fight, with a knockout or at least an action packed fight. His fight against Chavez Jr. was a great demonstration of skill, but to this day I believe that Jr. wasn’t ready for that fight, and was a very successfully handpicked opponent.

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Cotto undecided on September 28th date

cotto34Miguel Cotto (37-4, 30 KO’s) is still trying to decide whether he’ll be fighting on September 28th or another date this year for his next fight, according to RingTV. Golden Boy Promotions booked the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York for September 28th, hoping that Cotto will choose to fight on that date, but he’s still undecided.

Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer said to RingTV “Miguel hasn’t decided I he is going to fight on that date [September 28th] or before or after. We’re working on that option.”

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GBP setting aside September 28th at Barclays for Cotto

cotto8Golden Boy Promotions is setting aside the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York on September 28th for a possible Miguel Cotto fight, according to Steve Kim. This is potentially bad news for WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez because Cotto is the backup plan for him if Golden Boy can’t negotiate a fight between him and Floyd Mayweather Jr. for September 14th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

If Golden Boy strikes out with Mayweather, then they won’t eve have Cotto for Canelo. With Mayweather and Cotto out for Canelo, he’d then likely be matched up with the Golden Boy promoted Alfredo Angulo or Erislandy Lara.

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Left-Hook Lounge: Is ‘Canleo’ Ready For Mayweather, and Could Cotto Be Next?

IMG_2071Reggie B. (Dallas, TX): I’m still not sold on Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez. I don’t think Trout fought his best fight. Do you think Canelo is ready for a Mayweather fight?

Vivek W. (ESB): I have to be honest and very direct in saying that I simply feel people just aren’t ready to give Saul Alvarez credit. Coming into this fight I knew that Trout would have to be at his best and that he would need to execute somewhat flawlessly to even have a shot. Despite his activity rate, he didn’t do any damage, and furthermore, he didn’t do enough to truly seize the victory from Canelo. I think we have to be honest in saying that the deck was already stacked against him – in the sense that Canelo was the house fighter. It was Mexican “Fiesta” weekend in San Antonio, Canelo is the bigger name and the international name, and despite Trout’s victory over Cotto, Canelo was the one who carried the promotion.

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Cotto could be back in the ring on June 8th

Cotto could be back in the ring on June 8thBy Steve Mabbott: Former three division world champion Miguel Cotto (37-4, 30 KO’s) could be back in the ring on June 8th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, according to RingTV. Cotto, 32, lost his last fight against WBA World junior middleweight champion Austin Trout in a failed attempt to capture his title at Madison Square Garden earlier this month on December 1.

Cotto was beaten pretty badly in this one-sided fight, and the loss removed any hope of Cotto facing WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in a unification bout. Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer still didn’t rule out a Cotto-Alvarez fight taking place on May 4th, but then Alvarez came out and said he was no longer really interested in facing Cotto, so this leaves Cotto looking for a fight on June 8th.

Schaefer told RingTV “We’re definitely going to be working with Miguel Cotto on that date [June 8th] as a fighter.”

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If Trout Is Out, Who’s In?

If Trout Is Out, Who's In?By Eric Roman Sr. – A lot of talk has been made about the possible showdown between Canelo Alvarez and Miguel Cotto, even though the wily veteran lost a unanimous decision to Austin Trout this past weekend. As we all know, Cotto has had an incredible career, a sure fire Hall of Famer, and one of the greatest Puerto Rican fighters of all time, but at this point, much like “Sugar” Shane Mosely back in May, do we really need to see an all time great get battered by this young ferocious lion? Before the Trout fight, I was all for it, I thought it was a no-brainer. Two similar styles, both being boxer-punchers, the “old” versus the “new”, Puerto Rico vs. Mexico, can it get any better? Well, the problem with all that is the fact that Austin Trout made it all go away. He showed us that Miguel Cotto may be a little more past his prime then we thought, let’s face it, he left it all in the ring against Floyd Mayweather back in May, and those type of fights, along with both Margarito brawls, the Pacquiao bout, and a number of others when he was at 140lbs. have taken a lot out of him.

Enter Austin “No Doubt” Trout, a young, undefeated title holder, who has an excellent amateur pedigree, who just beat the aforementioned Puerto Rican Star, has been calling out Saul Alvarez since “The Classy” Jimmy Lennon Jr. spoke the following words into the microphone on Saturday night; And Still! Why wouldn’t this fight be made?

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