As the salsa blared through the Kingsway Gym a very distinctive sound could be heard over the music; the heavy thud of lethal lefts and rights thrown by WBA Welterweight Champion Miguel Cotto crashing the pads of one of his trainers. The undefeated Cotto was in his final days of working out in preparation for “Fast & Furious!” against what will surely be his biggest challenge to date against a four time, three-division world champion Sugar Shane Mosley in the Mecca of Boxing Madison Square Garden. Despite the laurels of his opponent, Team Cotto is extremely confident. Manager, trainer Evangelista Cotto offers, “We’ve gone through two and a half months of a tough training camp and I believe we’re in the best condition we’ve ever been in for a fight. We arrived in New York as World Champion and I believe we’ll return to Puerto Rico as World Champion.” Part of the confidence quite possibly comes as a result of the huge level of support the champ will receive. Cotto (30-0, 25 KOs), from Caguas, Puerto Rico, has headlined at the Garden on the eve of New York’s annual National Puerto Rican Day Parade the last three years, and his last fight, in front of a capacity crowd of over 20,600, Cotto, knocked out two-division world champion Zab Judah to retain his title and improve his record at The Garden to 3-0. Says Cotto, “Having people cheer for you always helps and in New York I feel like I’m fighting at home. The support I get there is incredible.” He adds, “Mosley is a great fighter and I will have to be at my best to beat him. I prepared the best I can, I’m in top shape and I look forward to keeping my title.”
For Sugar Shane Mosley, a fight of this magnitude is seemingly an old hat, having two huge fights with Winky Wright and two Super Fights with Oscar de La Hoya, yet he still remains excited to fight. Oscar de La Hoya, says of his former adversary, “All the fans can attest that Shane Mosley is something special. When you see a Shane Mosley fight, you know that you’re getting the very best from him.” During his workout it’s apparent that he’s still a beast in the gym, having displayed deft footwork and the signature extraordinary hand speed. However his team warns he has much more to offer. “We’ve prepared very well for what we think will be a tremendous fight. Ring generalship, countering and speed are all sharp,” says Shane’s trainer and father Jack Mosley. “No one realizes just how strong he is. We’re ready.” Shane promises that the fight will be a crowd-pleasing affair. “I’m going to have something on my trunks in remembrance of Diego Corrales, who was a great warrior, we’re in a legendary arena and we’re in the big city. He (Cotto) is a young, strong, proud champion and a real person. I have the utmost respect for him and we’re not going to get in there and play patti-cake. We’re going to do some business.”
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“Fast & Furious!” is promoted, in association with Madison Square Garden, by Top Rank and Golden Boy Promotions; the latter who’ve had a stellar year of fight cards. Bernard Hopkins, president of Golden Boy Promotions East and Ring Magazine Light Heavyweight Champion beams, “With the UFC getting popular, it’s important for boxing to give the fans the fights they want to see. I’m proud that at least 80 percent of those fights are coming from Golden Boy.”
The fight can be viewed on HBO Pay-Per-View, the leading supplier of event programming to the pay-per-view industry on Saturday November 10th beginning at 9 pm ET/6 pm PT.
