Miguel Cotto is one of five men to have shared the ring with both Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao as a professional, but when it came to naming the most skilled opponent of his career, ‘Junito’ looked elsewhere.
The Puerto Rican is part of the rare group of fighters to have faced both of boxing’s modern pound-for-pound standouts, joining Oscar De La Hoya, Shane Mosley, Ricky Hatton and Juan Manuel Marquez in that elite club.
However, as a four-division world champion and a global fan-favourite, Cotto will be remembered more for his own achievements and his fan-friendly style than his fights with Mayweather and ‘Pac Man’, who handed him two of his first three career defeats.
Although, when talking of his many talented dance partners, Cotto surprisingly named a man that he defeated as the most skilled opposition across his 47-fight professional career.
In an interview with Top Rank Boxing, Cotto recalled his title defence against Zab Judah in 2007, heaping praise on the skill of the New Yorker, who held the undisputed welterweight champion in 2005.
“[Zab Judah] was the most skilled fighter that I ever faced in my career. He was a professional, he was a real boxer, the whole time.”
When Cotto and Judah collided, the Puerto Rican came out on top via a round 11 knockout, with the victor winning all but one round on all three of the judges scorecards at the point of the stoppage. That triumph extended Cotto’s undefeated record to 30-0, as he retained his WBA welterweight title.
Three fights later, Cotto would lose his 147lb crown to Antonio Margarito in a highly controversial first career defeat, where Margarito was found in his next bout attempting to use illegal hand wraps which contained a plaster-like substance.
