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[/td] [/tr][tr][td]Mayweather vs Cotto Confirmed For May 5th at MGM Grand[/td][/tr][/table]
By Rick Reeno
Grant Sawyer State Building, Las Vegas - The opponent is set for May 5th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. During a hearing to obtain his boxing license in the state of Nevada, WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (42-0, 26KOs) announced his next opponent, WBA junior middleweight king Miguel Cotto (37-2, 30KOs), to the members of the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
Mayweather was asked by the commission - "Do you have an opponent for May 5th? Are you ready to reveal that opponent?
Mayweather replied: "Yes I do [have an opponent].....Miguel Cotto."
Cotto, promoted by Top Rank since the start of his career, became a free agent on December 31st when his promotional contract expired.
Cotto was the frontrunner to face Manny Pacquiao in a rematch on June 9th, also at the MGM Grand. The fighting weight was a major sticking point. Pacquiao refused to fight above the welterweight limit of 147, while Cotto was only willing to go down as low as 150-pounds.
When Pacquiao stopped Cotto in the twelfth round of their 2009 welterweight bout, the Puerto Rican star was required to make a catch-weight limit of 145-pounds. Following the loss, Cotto moved up to 154-pounds and stopped Yuri Foreman in June of 2010 to capture the WBA title. Cotto returned in March of the following year, and knocked out Ricardo Mayorga in the twelfth round, and then came back in December to stop Antonio Margarito in the tenth round.
Pacquiao's refusal to face Cotto at 150-pounds or above - opened up the door for alternative opportunities. From the start, Mayweather had no issue with Cotto's weight demand.
"Pacquiao fought him at a catch-weight. If I fight Cotto, I want him to be at a weight where he's comfortable," Mayweather had recently told BoxingScene.com.
The bout will be Mayweather's second appearance in a junior middleweight contest. He won the WBC's version of the title in 2008 with a twelve round split decision on May of 2007.
Mayweather was required to appear before the Nevada State Athletic Commission to explain his recent plea of guilty to a domestic abuse charge. Mayweather was sentenced to 90 days at the Clark County Detention Center. The sentence was scheduled to start on January 6th, but Mayweather's attorney was able to convince the judge, based on a scheduled fight for May 5th at the MGM, to postpone the start of his sentence to June 1.
[h1][/h1][h1]Floyd Mayweather Vs. Miguel Cotto Scheduled For May 5 [/h1]
by Brent Brookhouse on Feb 1, 2012 1:34 PM EST in Boxing
In news that directly impacts the UFC, Floyd Mayweather will be fighting Miguel Cotto in Las Vegas on May 5. The news came during Floyd's licensing hearing with the Nevada State Athletic Commission today, ending speculation about who Mayweather would fight after the idea of a bout with Manny Pacquiao was shot down yet again.
While Mayweather was calling out Pacquiao, Top Rank said Manny wouldn't be ready by May 5 due to a cut suffered in the Juan Manuel Marquez fight last November while Floyd is locked into the date due to the terms of his delayed jail sentence.
The UFC is holding their third effort on the Fox network that same night and I imagine the plan will be to play up the "our fights will be done before Floyd and Miguel enter the ring" angle as they did for the first Fox show, which was the same night as Marquez vs. Pacquiao.
I don't know if they'll find the same success this time around given the dip in ratings for the second Fox effort but it will be interesting to see if the idea of piggybacking on big boxing dates continues to pay off for the UFC. And, make no mistake, this was a planned move. Mayweather had May 5 locked up before the UFC announced the date and it is traditionally a major boxing weekend.
I do think we can count on some juicier quotes from Floyd on the UFC trying to steal some of his thunder than we got from Arum and Pacquiao last time around.
