Cotto will fight Clottey June 13 in NYC
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Miguel Cotto and Joshua Clottey, two fighters both likely wondering if their prior losses to Antonio Margarito were the result of loaded gloves, will fight for the International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Organization welterweight titles June 13 at Madison Square Garden.
Cotto returns to MSG for Puerto Rican Day weekend in New York for the fourth time in five years, having defeated Mohamad Abdulaev (2005), Paulie Malignaggi (2006) and Zab Judah (2007) in the prior trips. Cotto also fought there in February, scoring a fifth-round TKO of England’s Michael Jennings.
That was Cotto’s first fight since losing for the first time last summer by 11th-round TKO to Margarito, who had his boxing license revoked earlier this year because the California State Athletic Commission found that his hand wrappings had been tampered with: A hardened insert that ultimately was found to contain the key elements of plaster, calcium and sulfur, had been placed in his knuckle area.
Clottey (35-2, 20 knockouts) lost a unanimous decision to Margarito in December 2006, but the Bronx fighter has rallied with five straight victories since then, including triumphs over Judah and the late Diego Corrales (in Corrales’ final fight before his fatal motorcycle crash).
-- Lance Pugmire
