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Cotto: “Boxing at This Point in My Career Is a Battle With Myself”

As Miguel Cotto worked out for the media on Tuesday, May 26, 2015, he reflected on his year-long layoff and what could potentially be next.

Miguel Cotto - Ismael Gallardo RBRBoxing (16)

Miguel Cotto (39-4, 32 KOs) is the WBC and lineal Middleweight champion of the world. It’s an achievement that can be looked at as icing on the cake to a storied career that ranks Cotto as one of the best Puerto Rican fighters ever.

On Saturday, June 6, Cotto faces off against respected Aussie and former Middleweight title holder, Daniel Geale (31-3, 16 KOs). The bout takes place at Barclays Center in Brooklyn and will be televised live on HBO.

Cotto has been inactive since emphatically defeating former champion Sergio Martinez back in June of 2014. After an impressive performance against the Argentine, many people expected to see Cotto back in the ring relatively quickly with a possible showdown looming with Mexican superstar, Canelo Alvarez.

But here we are staring June in the face and Cotto is preparing to fight for the first time in 364 days against Geale, a fighter that may very well be past his prime and doesn’t have much of a fan base in the U.S. While Cotto has turned in some eye-opening performances since joining forces with head trainer Freddie Roach, it’s obvious that Cotto does not have many fights left in him.

“After 14 years of being in boxing, the best thing we could do in my career was to have some time off,” said a reflective Cotto during his media workout at the Wild Card Boxing Gym on Tuesday, May 26.

“Boxing at this point in my career is a battle with myself. I need to bring my best. I’m feeling good and I know I’m bringing my best. But day by day in the gym it is a battle with myself. I’m trying to be better each week.”

Cotto looks to impress against an opponent that was steamrolled by heavy-hitting Middleweight, Gennady Golovkin back in July of 2014. Some people may assume that this fight is a test of sorts to see how Cotto’s performance stacks up against Golovkin’s, but it doesn’t seem likely that Golovkin is in Cotto’s future plans.

“We have a verbal agreement with HBO and with Golden Boy Promotions, but we’ll see what happens after this fight,” said Cotto.

A fight against Canelo would certainly be crowd pleasing and would undoubtedly be more lucrative for Cotto who puts the sport of boxing into perspective as a means to provide for his family.

“Boxing is all I know. Boxing is my life. With boxing, I raised my family. I still have young kids and I’m here to bring them the best future I can. They make me believe, realize and love boxing everyday.”

Photo by Ismael Gallardo/RBRBoxing

All quotes obtained first hand by Ismael Gallardo

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