IT is natural for Miguel Cotto to become retrospective, as much as he may resist efforts to dwell on his glittering past. On Saturday (December 2) he fights for one last time, at Madison Square Garden in New York, closing out his glorious career in a WBO super-welterweight world title fight against Sadam Ali.
Cotto hasn’t won every fight but for years he has boxed at an astonishingly high level. His record features a who’s who of the finest boxers of his era. He might have lost to Floyd Mayweather (Probably the best he fought, Cotto says, “I believe that was Floyd Mayweather. He was pretty smart.), Manny Pacquiao and Canelo Alvarez, but over the years he has taken on and beaten the likes of Zab Judah and Shane Mosely, avenged a loss to Antonio Margarito and became a four-weight world champion on a glorious evening when he beat middleweight ruler Sergio Martinez.
He almost always managed to perform at the highest level. He explained the key to his motivation. “My whole career just gave me the opportunities to provide, in the best way possible, for my family, for my kids, for my wife, for my mum and when you have those kind of things in your mind you are working hard at every moment,” Cotto said.
He leaves boxing with no regrets. “What happened happened. If I did something different, I wouldn’t be here today. What happened happened and I’m happy with that,” he continued. “I enjoyed every moment of my career. I love everything that happened in my career.
“I fought everybody. I’m really happy with that.”
