The Blackeyed Interview with Miguel Cotto

"We've come to win, we prepared to win, and we're not leaving without the win."Miguel Cotto showed up this Tuesday four days before his fight with WBA middleweight champ Yuri Foreman in Yankee stadium to promote his "What do you fight for?" campaign at the sporting goods store Modell's in Times Square. The campaign is a line of t-shirts by EVERLAST that display the mission statement and the Puertorican flag which depicts what Cotto fights for. Sales of the t-shirts benefit the El Angel de Miguel Cotto foundation, an organization set up to combat childhood obesity. This Saturday night June 5th will be a night of firsts for the former champion, his first fight at junior middleweight, his first fight with new trainer Emannuel Steward, and his first fight at Yankee stadium. The Puertorican idol granted the Blackeyed View a few moments to discuss those topics and more.

The Blackeyed View: For this fight you have brought in Emmanuel Steward who is best known for working with tall, rangy fighters like Thomas Hearns and Lennox Lewis. How has this new training camp worked out for you and how is the new relationship?

Miguel Cotto: Thank God it has been very good. The chemistry, the way we relate to each other. We now know he is part of our team and that is how we have treated each other.

TBV: Junior middleweight is also something new for you. Why the switch? Where you having trouble making 147 pounds?

MC: Not at all, there was never a problem making welterweight. The fact is that this is a business and we found more opportunities at 154 [lbs] so we went up.

TBV: Yuri Foreman is the naturally bigger man in this fight. How do you plan to deal with his advantages in weight and height?

MC: We've worked hard to take advantage of any mistake he will make or anything else he will bring on Saturday night so we're confident that victory is ours.

TBV: Did you ever imagine that you would fight at Yankee stadium? What does it mean to you?

MC: I never imagined that I would be fighting at Yankee Stadium. For me its an honor if not the biggest honor of my career to be facing Yuri Foreman at the first boxing event at the new Yankee stadium. For me its a pleasure.

TBV: For all of your career you have counted on the support of the Hispanic community of New York, in particular the Puertorican fans. Explain what their support means to you.

MC: Its very important to me because the Latino fans have always shown me support, especially the Puertorican fans that come from the island that I come from and I know that on Saturday they will be present at Yankee stadium.

TBV: For the past six or seven years you have been an important part of the Puertorican day parade festivities in New York. Now there is a controversy stemming from the election of Puertorican telenovela actor Osvaldo Rios as international godfather of the parade for his serving a 3 month prison sentence for assaulting his girlfriend in Puerto Rico in 1996. There are those who want to boycott the parade until the organizers remove Mr. Rios from his position and there are those who say the man has paid his debt and deserves forgiveness. What is your opinion?

MC: I was not aware of the controversy but I understand that for those things there are prisons that are supposed to be rehabilitation systems to rehabilitate those who have committed errors. I also understand that from 1996 to now we are talking about 14 years ago more or less and there has not been another incident. If he has been rehabilitated then he is rehabilitated. Who hasn't committed a mistake in this life? The important thing is to rise and admit the wrong and never do it again.

TBV: The sales of the t-shirts benefit an organization to combat childhood obesity. is there something in your life that has inspired you to take up this cause?

MC: I was a product of childhood obesity in my youth and due to that I decided to take up this cause.

TBV: What will be the result of your fight this Saturday night?

MC: We've come to win, we prepared to win, and we're not leaving without the win.

Observations:

• Before this interview with Cotto, I was a little doubtful about his chances for success at this higher weight. I ran into him coming out of Kingsway gym in Manhattan a few years ago as he was in town training for his fight with Joshua Clottey and I remember thinking to myself how small he looked in regular street clothes. But the Cotto I saw on Tuesday is a bigger, even more muscular looking version of himself and I now feel better about his chances.

• Tuesday was a wild day for me, I did not stop moving until I went to bed late that night. After my morning workout I headed to Yankee stadium to pick up my press pass for the fight on Saturday. It was 85 or 88 degrees and the sun was at its brightest, so even the walk from the car that dropped me off to the Yankee press gate was a hot stroll. I had a buddy who did me the favor of dropping me off at the stadium and my plan was to then catch the train downtown to interview Cotto. Well the first monkey wrench was thrown into my plans when the attendant informed that the passes were being given out at another site in downtown Manhattan. No problem I thought, I'm headed there anyway. The second major hurdle to overcome came to me at the train station as I dug into my pockets to reach for my train fare and realized that there was nothing in my pockets. No money, no ATM card, no metro card, nothing. I had left the house with nothing in my pockets! Kids, this is what happens when you forgo breakfast. So I had to walk over the bridge from the Bronx to Manhattan and take the FDR drive highway to the last exit on foot in 88 degree weather with the sun beaming on my face. I've driven on the FDR before and often times as I've sped along, I've always feared that someone would run across the highway to get to the other side. I never imagined that person would turn out to be me! So yes, I had adventures on the highway and felt like one of those guys on those nature survival shows, just to get this interview with Miguel Cotto. Someone said there would be days like this.

• Last Saturday night heavyweight Vitali Klitschko defended his WBC heavyweight title by knocking out Albert Sonowoski in the tenth round in Germany. This news did not make any of the mainstream media in the states. Nor was it carried by any of the main boxing broadcast channels as most boxing insiders in the United States don't seem to care what the Klitschko brothers do. My fear is that I am also starting to lose interest. I don't want to be that way but there fights are starting to seem like far gone conclusions.