MSG: A second home for Miguel Cotto
Miguel Cotto and Austin Trout at NYC press conference. September 24, 2012. Credit: Tom Casino/Showtime
It’s been seven appearances at Madison Square Garden and seven wins for Miguel Cotto. Cotto has made New York City a second home. If his wins over Yuri Foreman at Yankee Stadium and Walkimi Young at the Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan are included, Cotto is 9-0 fighting in the Big Apple.
Cotto (37-3, 30 KOs) will get a chance to up that mark to 10-0 when he takes on Austin Trout (25-0, 14 KOs) for his WBA 154-pound title at MSG on December 1 live on Showtime.
Cotto, a legend in Puerto Rican circles, has built quite a reputation at Madison Square Garden. The best wins of his career over the likes of Antonio Margarito, Shane Mosley, Joshua Clottey, Shane Mosley and Zab Judah had come at MSG.
Cotto pointed to his ethnicity has a factor in his rise to the top of the sport.
“The fans here make me proud of the Puerto Rican heritage in New York,” Cotto said. “People here make me feel at home, people make me feel comfortable. The root for me and they give me the support I need to beat anyone.”
In Cotto’s last appearance at MSG on December 3 he scored a 10th-round TKO over his nemesis Margarito. “The crowd here in New York is electrifying,” Cotto added. “I get a different feeling when I fight here.”
As for Trout, he said he’s not at all impressed with Cotto’s New York appeal.
“He can have whoever he wants in the crowd because it’s only me and him in the ring,” said Trout. “I’m not worried about the crowd and fighting in New York.”
