Miguel Cotto weighs fight options, Antonio Margarito unlikely
Miguel Cotto looks to return to the ring in March. However, it is unlikely he will find himself hurled into a rematch with Antonio Margarito or a unification title bout with Manny Pacquiao, boxingscene.com reports.
That leaves a few fighters on the table—possibly “Sugar” Shane Mosley, or Julio Cesar Chaves Jr., as possible opponents.
Margarito, who beat Cotto in 2008, is recovering from a broken right orbital bone suffered in a match with Pacquiao Saturday, and is thus unlikely to be prepared for March.
Another impediment for Margarito is that he remains unlicensed to compete professionally in states other than Texas, following a hand wrap incident with Mosley in January 2009.
Negotiations for a bout between Chavez Jr. and Cotto were thwarted earlier this year when Bob Arum, who promotes both fighters, said that he had already matched Chavez when a fight between the two came into purview.
Chavez. Jr., 41-0, will take on Alfonso Gomez on December 4 in California. While he has racked up a formidable record, many have argued he has been sheltered by Top Rank Inc. in a bid to shape his career towards a championship and viable market value.
A bout between Cotto and Chavez would involve Chavez fighting a fighter with much more experience and arguably more talent than him. Chavez is still looking to demonstrate that he is a great fighter, but because he has not been positioned against talented
opponents, he hasn’t had the opportunity.
There is also the possibility that Cotto could take on Pacquiao in a rematch in the future. However, the fight has lost considerable steam since Pacquiao dominated the first, and it doesn’t appear imminent that Cotto would be able to beat “Pacman” in a
rematch.
Cotto bounced back from a loss to Pacquiao by defeating Yuri Foreman for the WBA junior middleweight championship in June.
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