Miguel Cotto is returning to his “second home.”
The Puerto Rican former three-division champion will take on undefeated WBA light middleweight champion Austin Trout on Dec. 1 at Madison Square Garden, where he is a massive draw with the local fans. Cotto (37-3) is 7-0 in his career at MSG, including a TKO of Antonio Margarito in December 2011.
“The biggest town Puerto Rico has is New York,” Cotto said at a press conference Monday. “People here make me feel at home. People here make me feel comfortable. They root for me and they give me the support I need to beat anyone.”
Trout, a 27-year-old Mexican southpaw, is 25-0, but hasn’t fought anyone with the résumé of Cotto – or anywhere like Madison Square Garden for that matter.
“I know the Puerto Rican fans are going to be out in full force, but on Dec. 1, there is going to be a new star in boxing,” Trout said. “They’re going to see why I’m here, why I’m the champion. I have two things in this sport right now – my belt and my undefeated record and I plan to keep both of them.”
Trout says he’s “one of the most avoided fighters in boxing” and that he and his camp have “wanted this fight for years.”
“He can have whoever he wants in the crowd because it’s only me and him in the ring,” Trout said. “I’m not worried about the crowd and fighting in New York.”
Trout has been to the Garden before, he said, because he’s a Knicks fan. But Cotto has owned MSG for years.
“The crowd here in New York is electrifying,” Cotto said. “I get a different feeling when I fight here.”
Cotto, 31, is coming off a unanimous decision loss to Floyd Mayweather, Jr. in May. Before that, he had won three straight and his only three losses have come to Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao and Margarito, which he avenged. Cotto is widely considered a top-10 pound-for-pound boxer.
Trout isn’t on most people’s radars just yet. But he’s hoping to change that in December.
“I’m going to take this opportunity with both hands and I’m going to run with it,” Cotto said. “It’s very honorable to be on that list of people Cotto has fought because he’s fought the best. But it’s going to be even better to be on that list of the people that have beaten Cotto.”