Listening to former four-time and three-division world champion Miguel Cotto guarantee a victory against him, Austin “No Doubt” Trout had mixed emotions.
The pair will meet for Trout’s WBA Super Welterweight World Championship on Saturday, December 1 at Madison Square Garden in New York City and live on SHOWTIME.
“I know this fight will be a changing of the guard. I’m going to use my victory over him as an announcement that boxing has a new superstar,” said Trout. “But even though boxing is a game where the strongest survive and it’s my time, I still feel a little bad for him and his fans. I’ve been a Cotto fan and he’s had a great career, but I hope they all know this is 2012. They’re not going there to watch their hero win. They’re going there to watch him pass the torch.”
Trout says he hopes when the fight is over, he can let Cotto know it wasn’t personal and that every great fighter goes through this in time.
“In 1991, Sugar Ray Leonard fought an unknown champion right there in Madison Square Garden. He was supposed to be just tuning up for big fights on the horizon. But instead, he took a beating and that was his last fight as a serious threat to any belts. 12 rounds later, boxing had a new star, Terry Norris. That’s what this fight will be about: History repeating itself.”
Respectful, likeable and active in several charities, Trout says he hopes The Big Apple fight fans will get behind him as they did Cotto in his glory days.
“It’s such a lifelong dream to be fighting a superstar in the ‘Mecca of Boxing’. It really is a dream come true and I hope my victory is impressive enough where the fans in this great city show me some of the love they’ve showed Cotto throughout his great run. I’m honored to be part of such an historic event and happy that my time is about to begin.”
“Showdown: Cotto vs. Trout” is a 12 round battle between Four-Time and Three-Division World Champion Miguel Cotto and WBA Super Welterweight World Champion Austin Trout taking place on December 1 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The event is promoted by Miguel Cotto Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions in association with Greg Cohen Promotions, sponsored by Corona and will be televised live on SHOWTIME.
Tickets priced at $500, $300, $200, $100 and $50 are on sale now. They can be purchased at the Madison Square Garden Box Office, all Ticketmaster outlets, Ticketmaster charge by phone (866-858-0008) and online at www.ticketmaster.com or www.thegarden.com.
Hailing from Caguas, Puerto Rico, Cotto (37-3, 30 KO’s) has held a world title every year since 2004 while winning 16 of the 18 world championship bouts in which he has fought. Puerto Rico’s most exciting fighter and one of its greatest of all time, Cotto held the World Boxing Organization (WBO) Junior Welterweight crown from 2004-2006, successfully defending it six times before vacating it in order to fight for and capture the WBA Welterweight title at the end of 2006, a title he held for nearly as long. After controversially losing the WBA title to Antonio Margarito in July 2008, Cotto won his second welterweight belt in February 2009, knocking out Michael Jennings in the fifth round to become the WBO Welterweight champion. He lost the title in his second defense in November 2009, but captured the WBA Super Welterweight title in June of 2010 at Yankee Stadium in New York by stopping then-undefeated defending champion Yuri Foreman. Cotto successfully defended that title by stopping Two-Division World Champion Ricardo “El Matador” Mayorga in the 12th round in March of 2011 and then avenged his loss to Margarito in December of 2011, once again retaining his title and giving him true peace of mind. He has also added to his huge fan base by giving Floyd “Money” Mayweather and Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao their toughest fights to date. Next on his plate is Austin Trout, and if he defeats the New Mexico southpaw, it will be another world championship added to his Hall of Fame resume.
27-year-old Austin “No Doubt” Trout (25-0, 14 KO’s) has been boxing since the age of 10, but the 2004 United States amateur champion didn’t begin making noise in the sport until he began mowing through opponent after opponent while maintaining an undefeated professional record. By the tail end of 2009, he was 20-0 and the WBA international, WBA Fedelatin, and WBC Continental Americas super welterweight champion, but fights were hard to come by. In February of 2011 though, Trout emerged and captured a world championship by defeating Rigoberto “El Español” Alvarez, Canelo’s older brother, for the WBA Interim Super Welterweight World Championship. He has since been elevated to full champion and defended his belt successfully three times against David “Destroyer” Lopez, Frank “The Italian Stallion” LoPorto and Delvin Rodriguez, setting up the fight of his life on December 1 against Miguel Cotto.
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