Cotto vs Trout Title Clash Set For December 1 at MSG

[JONdaCON]

Quote: By Osman Rodriguez

Former three division world champion Miguel Cotto has announced that he will be facing undefeated WBA "regular" champion Austin Trout (25-0, 14KOs) on December 1st at New York's Madison Square Garden.

"I officially announce that my fight on December 1st at MSG will be with the undefeated WBA super welterweight champion Austin Trout," Cotto announced.

The announcement by Cotto (37-3, 30KOs) will certainly rule him out as possible opponent for Manny Pacquiao, who is also scheduled to return in early December. It also cements the claims of Juan Manuel Marquez, who in several recent reports on BoxingScene expressed his confidence in being the frontrunner to face Pacquiao.

Cotto was last seen in the ring in the month of May, losing a spirited twelve round decision to Floyd Mayweather Jr. at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Trout is managed by Al Haymon and promoted by Greg Cohen. He won the vacant WBA title last February with a twelve round decision over Rigoberto Alvarez, the older brother of WBC champion Saul "Canelo" Alvarez. He then defended the title with dominating decisions over Frank LaPorto, David Lopez and in June he defeated Delvin Rodriguez.

Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer had previously revealed to BoxingScene that his company is planning to co-promote the event with Cotto, a promotional free agent since his contract expired with Top Rank on Decembe 31 of last year.

Thoughts?

[Fitz]

Good fight for Cotto to come back to after a loss. He is undefeated, holds a world title...why not? I like it for him, and it will also be a good test to see what Trout is made off. You may even be able to get a gauge from a losing performance.

[Mean Mister Mustard]

This is what makes us appreciate a boxer like Cotto. The guy fights anyone, even if they aren't big names, which is the excuse that other boxers use when they don't want a tough challenge.

[the ollie reed fan club]

JONdaCON Wrote:

Quote: By Osman Rodriguez

Former three division world champion Miguel Cotto has announced that he will be facing undefeated WBA "regular" champion Austin Trout (25-0, 14KOs) on December 1st at New York's Madison Square Garden.

"I officially announce that my fight on December 1st at MSG will be with the undefeated WBA super welterweight champion Austin Trout," Cotto announced.

The announcement by Cotto (37-3, 30KOs) will certainly rule him out as possible opponent for Manny Pacquiao, who is also scheduled to return in early December. It also cements the claims of Juan Manuel Marquez, who in several recent reports on BoxingScene expressed his confidence in being the frontrunner to face Pacquiao.

Cotto was last seen in the ring in the month of May, losing a spirited twelve round decision to Floyd Mayweather Jr. at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Trout is managed by Al Haymon and promoted by Greg Cohen. He won the vacant WBA title last February with a twelve round decision over Rigoberto Alvarez, the older brother of WBC champion Saul "Canelo" Alvarez. He then defended the title with dominating decisions over Frank LaPorto, David Lopez and in June he defeated Delvin Rodriguez.

Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer had previously revealed to BoxingScene that his company is planning to co-promote the event with Cotto, a promotional free agent since his contract expired with Top Rank on Decembe 31 of last year.

Thoughts?

Trout is average. This is a tune-up type fight for Cotto. But hey he does deserve an easy touch like this. I wonder what folks would say if Floyd or Manny were fighting Trout?

[salvador]

"Trout is managed by Al Haymon" ------ What a shock that a relatively unknown fighter managed by Al Haymon is getting a huge shot and, presumably, huge paycheck against a fading superstar.

Seriously, is Al Haymon connected? Does he travel with an entourage of tough guys?

[ViperSniper]

Not a big fight for Miguel, but a good one. Trout is at least known, is undefeated & holds a major title. Unification fights for Cotto against either Mayweather or Alvarez would be huge!

[Fitz]

salvador Wrote:"Trout is managed by Al Haymon" ------ What a shock that a relatively unknown fighter managed by Al Haymon is getting a huge shot and, presumably, huge paycheck against a fading superstar.

Seriously, is Al Haymon connected? Does he travel with an entourage of tough guys?

In this case, Haymon seriously didn't have to do much. Haymon signed Trout this year, he was already an undefeated 154 pound WBA champion. Undefeated and already holding a world title, I don't think you need to do too much to be able to work with a fighter like that.

[the ollie reed fan club]

Fitz Wrote:In this case, Haymon seriously didn't have to do much. Haymon signed Trout this year, he was already an undefeated 154 pound WBA champion. Undefeated and already holding a world title, I don't think you need to do too much to be able to work with a fighter like that.

Seriously let's not go too big on the undefeated part. I assume you've seen Trout and you must know that it is a very carefully matched undefeated record. Yeah I'm sure that will be used to sell the fight to the casual fan but I'm confident that most hardcore fans know not to put too much stock in this.

Trout is warm-up fight for a rematch with Floyd. Kudos to Haymon for keeping it in-house, but this is a warm-up, stay busy type fight, nothing more. I guess the fact that there is a trinket on the line helps because it can be added to the pot for the Floyd rematch.

Cotto-Trout? Meh.

[Fitz]

the ollie reed fan club Wrote:

Fitz Wrote:In this case, Haymon seriously didn't have to do much. Haymon signed Trout this year, he was already an undefeated 154 pound WBA champion. Undefeated and already holding a world title, I don't think you need to do too much to be able to work with a fighter like that.

Seriously let's not go too big on the undefeated part. I assume you've seen Trout and you must know that it is a very carefully matched undefeated record. Yeah I'm sure that will be used to sell the fight to the casual fan but I'm confident that most hardcore fans know not to put too much stock in this.

Trout is warm-up fight for a rematch with Floyd. Kudos to Haymon for keeping it in-house, but this is a warm-up, stay busy type fight, nothing more. I guess the fact that there is a trinket on the line helps because it can be added to the pot for the Floyd rematch.

Cotto-Trout? Meh.

What do you mean "let's not get too big on the undefeated part"? lol.

salvador was surprised how Haymon could possibly get Trout a fight with Cotto. I just pointed out that Haymon had a lot to work with when he got him. Not highly regarded, undefeated and holds a major world title. That to me sounds like a good starting block to get a guy a fight.
History in boxing suggests as well that guys like Trout are often used by world class fighters to pick up easy world titles. This isn't a hard fight to sell......(that's of course if fans have been spoilt too much where if it's less than 1.8 million buys, the fight failed).

[the ollie reed fan club]

What do you mean "let's not get too big on the undefeated part"? lol.

salvador was surprised how Haymon could possibly get Trout a fight with Cotto. I just pointed out that Haymon had a lot to work with when he got him. Not highly regarded, undefeated and holds a major world title. That to me sounds like a good starting block to get a guy a fight.
History in boxing suggests as well that guys like Trout are often used by world class fighters to pick up easy world titles. This isn't a hard fight to sell......(that's of course if fans have been spoilt too much where if it's less than 1.8 million buys, the fight failed).[/quote]I dunno Fitz it just feels like you are trying to justify this fight in a subliminal way. In the 3 odd posts you've made in this tread you've mentioned that Trout is undefeated about 4 times.

I'll tell you the 2 most abused phrases in the sport these days are 'undefeated fighter' and 'title holder' they honestly don't mean shit in 2012.

I also disagree, I think it is a hard fight to sell. Case in point just recently the number 2 PPV guy in the sport, Pacquiao fought Tim Bradley who as hard as it is to believe had a higher profile than Austin Trout and the fight somewhat fizzled at the box office by his standards.

I'm sure Cotto will do OK numbers due to his hardcore PR fan base but if this is on PPV I think it will be his lowest selling PPV in quite some time. It will probably be an economic success based on the fact that they probably don't have to pay Trout more than 10 bucks and a couple of Mars Bars to take this fight.

Just a quick question, is it going to be on PPV? If it is I would be furious if I lived in America because in no way is this fight PPV worthy. It is a tune-up (despite the blah blah blah undefeated record and trinket holder part) and should be treated as such by putting it on regular cable.

I've bought every Cotto PPV since the Margarito fight but even if they try to sting me a puny 20 bucks down in NZ I won't be buying it.