Live from San Antonio, Texas
For the first time in his professional career, WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto will be fighting outside of the Top Rank promotional umbrella as it was recently announced that the Puerto Rican will step into the ring with Floyd Mayweather Jr. this coming May 5th at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Cotto’s latest tenure with Bob Arum’s outfit came to a close at the end of 2011, shortly after his revenge victory over Antonio Margarito at Madison Square Garden, and he is now pushing forward with his career as a promotional free agent, as is the case with Mayweather Jr.
Cotto had been in talks for a rematch with Manny Pacquiao, who defeated him in November of 2009, but the fight fell apart because the two sides couldn’t agree on a contracted weight limit. The introduction of Mayweather into the equation was a move that figured to ruffle Arum’s feathers given the fact that he and Floyd haven’t been on the best of terms in recent times, but he has been insisting that isn’t the case.
Speaking to the media shortly after today’s Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.-Marco Antonio Rubio press conference in San Antonio, Arum spoke to the assembled press about his true feelings towards Cotto, what it would take to stage a fight between Mexican legend Juan Manuel Marquez and junior welterweight champion Lamont Peterson at Cowboys Stadium in Texas, the future of Chavez, and more…
In his own words, here are some select sound bites from Arum on Thursday afternoon…
No hard feelings towards Cotto…
“He has to look out for himself, his family; I have absolutely not the least bit of animosity to Miguel. Miguel took the position that he was a free agent. We didn’t contest it, so we’re free agents also and we’ll make the best deal possible for our company.”
Why Cotto-Pacquiao II never came about…
“We had a meeting. They came to my office first. Manny said he wanted to only fight at 147. They said they wouldn’t go an ounce lower than 150, so we couldn’t make the fight. There was no money issue.”
Why he isn’t interested in a fourth fight between Pacquiao and Marquez at the moment…
“But I would prefer not to do the Marquez fight right now, because I would think that in November, if Mayweather’s not available, that, if Marquez wins his fight, you could do it then. You have to put some air under it. If you come back with that fight now, you can’t do it. As a promoter, I’d be afraid to do it now.”
Whether it’s surprising for him to be working with Marquez, who he used to promote years back…
“No, fighters are free agents and they can go wherever they want. They go where they make the best deals. The point is, the fighters have to get in the ring and they have to fight. Who their promoter is may or may not make a difference. In other words, if it’s pay-per-view and we believe we can do the best job pay-per-view, that’s our belief. But a fighter doesn’t necessarily believe that.”
Whether Antonio Margarito will be waiting in the wings for Chavez Jr. if he’s successful on Saturday…
“I don’t know if he’s next. Because Margarito’s going to need some time, but eventually this year, we hope to make a Chavez-Margarito fight and if he gets by Margarito, then we’ll look at a [Sergio] Martinez fight.”
Producing a match between Marquez and Peterson at Cowboys Stadium this summer…
“The whole trick, as we’re finding here, is pricing. You got to give him a good cut but you cannot price it. Texas is very, very affluent like the job market, they’re not hurting like the rest of the country, but to start charging people $300 [in Texas] where the casinos aren’t buying tickets is asking too much.”
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Nonito Donaire-Wilfredo Vazquez pre-fight BONUS SLIDESHOWS
Tensions arise at final Donaire-Vazquez presser - See images of Nonito Donaire and Wilfredo Vazquez going face to face plus bonus shots of Freddie Roach, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., Bob Arum, Marco Antonio Rubio and others
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A closer look at 'The Filipino Flash' - Behind the scenes with Nonito Donaire in Las Vegas, in the ring scoring his victories, and in training camp
Additional photos of Wilfredo Vazquez - Images of WV2 training in Puerto Rico, his bout with Jorge Arce, behind the scenes, and more
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Chris Robinson can be reached at Trimond@aol.com andwww.Twitter.com/CRHarmony
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