amanamagus
06-28-2007, 11:22 AM
Notebook
www.espn.com
by Dan Rafael
Cotto's Plan B
Boxing followers already know that if Antonio Margarito defeats Paul Williams on July 14, he will meet Miguel Cotto in a welterweight unification bout before the new year, most likely in early December. But what does Cotto do if Margarito loses?
"There are a number of interesting fights if that happens," said Arum, who promotes Cotto and Margarito.
The two leading candidates in Arum's mind are titlist Kermit Cintron, who is promoted by Main Events and would need to retain his belt against Walter Matthysse on July 14, and rugged contender Joshua Clottey, who is with Arum.
"I don't mind doing either of those on HBO rather than HBO PPV," Arum said. "But the fight we would like to do is Shane Mosley [on HBO PPV]."
Mosley is a brutally difficult fight to make because of the issues between Top Rank and Golden Boy, although that burden could lighten if the companies settle their differences, which they are working on in mediation.
"The pay-per-view fight on Cotto's horizon would be Margarito in terms of the immediate future," Arum said. "There's also Williams, if he beats Margarito. It would depend on how he looks. If he wins an interesting fight with Margarito, a fight with Cotto would be intriguing."
One fight that he doesn't think will ever happen is one between Cotto and pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. Arum is one of the few who believes Mayweather will stick to his word and not fight again.
"I don't see him fighting again unless Oscar [De La Hoya] fights him again," said Arum, who promoted Mayweather for virtually all of his career. "Floyd doesn't want to take risks. He doesn't want to get hurt. He doesn't want to fight someone and be lucky to do 200,000 buys [on pay-per-view after doing 2.15 million against De La Hoya]. Cotto and Mosley? Floyd ain't going to take those fights. It's a shame. And Oscar won't fight him again because he doesn't want to be humiliated [losing again]. The next time it would be worse."
Cotto is coming off a stirring 11th-round TKO of Zab Judah on June 9 at New York's Madison Square Garden. Top Rank will no longer officially release its pay-per-view numbers, but Arum said Cotto-Judah did "about 225,000 buys." Arum said he needed about 150,000 to break even.
"Sure I would have liked to do more, but I'm really satisfied because it was great promotion, the Garden was sold out, everyone is talking about the fight and the guy [Cotto] looked sensational," he said.
www.espn.com
by Dan Rafael
Cotto's Plan B
Boxing followers already know that if Antonio Margarito defeats Paul Williams on July 14, he will meet Miguel Cotto in a welterweight unification bout before the new year, most likely in early December. But what does Cotto do if Margarito loses?
"There are a number of interesting fights if that happens," said Arum, who promotes Cotto and Margarito.
The two leading candidates in Arum's mind are titlist Kermit Cintron, who is promoted by Main Events and would need to retain his belt against Walter Matthysse on July 14, and rugged contender Joshua Clottey, who is with Arum.
"I don't mind doing either of those on HBO rather than HBO PPV," Arum said. "But the fight we would like to do is Shane Mosley [on HBO PPV]."
Mosley is a brutally difficult fight to make because of the issues between Top Rank and Golden Boy, although that burden could lighten if the companies settle their differences, which they are working on in mediation.
"The pay-per-view fight on Cotto's horizon would be Margarito in terms of the immediate future," Arum said. "There's also Williams, if he beats Margarito. It would depend on how he looks. If he wins an interesting fight with Margarito, a fight with Cotto would be intriguing."
One fight that he doesn't think will ever happen is one between Cotto and pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. Arum is one of the few who believes Mayweather will stick to his word and not fight again.
"I don't see him fighting again unless Oscar [De La Hoya] fights him again," said Arum, who promoted Mayweather for virtually all of his career. "Floyd doesn't want to take risks. He doesn't want to get hurt. He doesn't want to fight someone and be lucky to do 200,000 buys [on pay-per-view after doing 2.15 million against De La Hoya]. Cotto and Mosley? Floyd ain't going to take those fights. It's a shame. And Oscar won't fight him again because he doesn't want to be humiliated [losing again]. The next time it would be worse."
Cotto is coming off a stirring 11th-round TKO of Zab Judah on June 9 at New York's Madison Square Garden. Top Rank will no longer officially release its pay-per-view numbers, but Arum said Cotto-Judah did "about 225,000 buys." Arum said he needed about 150,000 to break even.
"Sure I would have liked to do more, but I'm really satisfied because it was great promotion, the Garden was sold out, everyone is talking about the fight and the guy [Cotto] looked sensational," he said.