MIGUEL COTTO insists he is in the form of his life ahead of Saturday’s WBA world super world light-middleweight title defence against Floyd Mayweather.
The biggest fight in the world this year takes place at the MGM Grand Garden, Las Vegas on Saturday night, and will be screened live by BoxNation.
Cotto, 31, has won all four fights since his loss to Manny Pacquiao in December 2009 and back in December avenged his only other defeat hammering Antonio Margarito.
He said: “I am happy with my career and two defeats made me the man that I am today. When your confidence is back you can reach for the top.
“Mayweather has beaten a lot of good fighters, but is facing the best Miguel Cotto ever.
“When I got revenge against Margarito I felt I was back in the game again. I felt much better in myself and this fight has come at the right time for me.”
Although he is naturally the bigger man, it would still be an upset if the Puerto Rican great defeat the world’s number one fighter.
He added: “I don’t need people to give me a chance. The only person who needs to give me a chance is myself. I don’t need people to believe in me.
“Mayweather is facing a guy who can put pressure on him and who can fight.
“He has a lot of skills, but I am ready and going to work for every second of the fight to get the result.”
Mayweather v Cotto is live and exclusive on BoxNation (Sky Ch. 456/Virgin Ch. 546) this Saturday. Join at www.boxnation.com
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IABA UPDATE (7TH AIBA WORLD WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIPS AND OLYMPIC QUALIFIERS)
The Irish women’s squad departed for China this morning (May 3rd) ahead of the opening bell for the 7th AIBA World Women’s Championships at the Olympic Stadium in Qinhuangdao.
Flyweight Ceire Smith, lightweight Katie Taylor and middleweight Sinead Kavanagh will represent Ireland at the tournament which will also act as the first ever Olympic qualifying event for female boxers.
The 2012 AIBA World Women’s Championships – which will also act as the only qualifier for female boxers for the London 2012 Olympics – will be contested across ten weight categories.
However, the 51kg (flyweight), 60kg (lightweight) and 75kg (middleweight) weight classes have a double significance as these are the three Olympic weight categories for women.
Taylor, who boxes out of the Bray BC in Co. Wicklow, will be targeting her 4th World title in-a-row in Qinhuangdao, and her second – she claimed gold at the 2008 AIBA World Women’s Championships in China – World title on-the-trot in China.
Taylor, and Smith, who boxes out of the Cavan BC, and Kavanagh (Drimnagh BC, Dublin), represented Ireland at the 2010 AIBA World Women’s Championships in Barbados.
Smith and Kavanagh bowed out at the preliminary round and last-16 stage in Barbados, while Taylor went all the way and secured her third World title in the Caribbean.
Taylor, who is also the current European lightweight champion, will be seeded number one in the 60kg class in Qinhuangdao.
The AIBA Seeding Commission will review all rankings and approve the seeding immediately after the general weigh-in and before the official draw on May 11. Boxing begins on May 12.
Taylor’s Bray BC team-mate Adam Nolan, Darren O’Neill, John Joe Nevin, Michael Conlan and Paddy Barnes have already qualified for the London 2012 Games.
286 male and female boxers will compete at the 30th Olympiad across ten weight categories for men and three weight categories for women.
“Katie, Ceire and Sinead have prepared well and are eagerly looking forward to competing at the AIBA World Women’s Championships. Hopefully, we can get another few boxers over the line for the London Olympics. That’s what it’s all about, said Tommy Murphy, the President of the Irish Amateur Boxing Association.
“This will be an historic World Championships as it is the first ever Olympic qualifier for women’s boxing. It will obviously be very competitive, but Katie has consistently proven what she can do at this level and Ceire and Sinead have the experience of competing at this level.
“Women’s boxing is continuing to grow in popularity in Ireland. We are currently running the National Girls Championships at the National Stadium and almost 200 young boxers entered.
“Some of the finals of these Championships were held last weekend and we have another session of finals to be decided this weekend. The qualify of boxing and the sheer enthusiasm of our young boxers at this tournament augurs well for the future of the sport in this country.
“These young boxers see what Katie Taylor and the women’s senior squad are achieving in international competition and hopefully we will have more success at these World Championships and Olympic qualifiers and the popularity of women’s boxing in Ireland will continue to grow.”
The 2012 World Women’s Championships, the 7th edition since the first AIBA World Women’s Championships in USA in 2001, brings the curtain down on the qualification process for the London 2012 Olympics.
The final Men’s African qualifiers conclude in Casablanca, Morocco on Sunday and the final Men’s American qualifiers are slated to be contested between May 4th and 13th in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Female boxing will make its historic debut at the London 2012 Olympics over 100 years after male boxing became an Olympic sport at the 1904 Games in St Louis, USA.
Please see above attachment for tournament details for the 2012 AIBA World Women’s Championships.
7th AIBA World Women’s Championships and Olympic qualifiers, Qinhuangdao, China May 9th/20th
Irish squad.
51kg (Flyweight) Ceire Smith (Cavan)
60kg (Lightweight) Katie Taylor (Bray)
75kg (Middleweight) Sinead Kavanagh (Drimnagh)
Team manager: Anna Moore
Coaches: Peter Taylor and Zuar Antia
Physio: Mary Louis Ryan
Ben Murphy wants British title
On Saturday night Hove’s Ben Murphy successfully defended his Southern Area Lightweight title, against Waltham Abbey’s unbeaten Phil ‘The Phil Gill Experience’ Gill, in emphatic fashion.
Ben, who is trained by Johnny Eames and Barry Smith at the TRAD TKO Boxing Gym in Canning Town, made short work of this his third defense, of the title he won in January 2010, taking just two minutes and thirty five seconds to dispatch this latest challenger.
With early stoppages in both his recent title defenses it is clear to all that Ben has now outgrown the Southern Area title and should rightfully be challenging for the British title, something that is not lost on Ben, as he made clear when he spoke about the fight earlier today, “I didn’t know too much about Phil Gill so didn’t really know what to expect from him, but after the fight started I more or less knew straight away what to do.
He was very easy to hit for one thing, every punch I hit him with hurt him and when it come to him punching back I sort of realized more that it would be an easy night for me, there was no way he was going to last long.
The sort of stuff Johnny (Eames) and Barry (Smith) have been working on with me in the gym really paid dividends, I was relaxed, it was a perfect fight and it showed everyone what I can do.
I’ve learned to relax in the ring thanks to them, I’ll go into my next fight knowing I can do that. Now I want the British title.
I want the quickest way I can get the British title. If I can fight for it right away, maybe Derry (Matthews) will give me a voluntary defense, that would be my number one choice.
If not then an eliminator first, I just want a shot at the British title, it doesn’t matter which way I get it, I just want the quickest way to get to the British title.”