- José Miguel Cotto
José Miguel Cotto Vázquez (born
June 22 ,1977 inCaguas ,Humacao ) is a professionallightweight boxer fromCaguas, Puerto Rico . He is the brother of the highly ratedwelterweight World Champion boxer Miguel Angel Cotto. Cotto, who has boxed for most of his career under the shadow of his brother, trains atBairoa Gym in Caguas. In 1995, he participated at the Pan American Games inMar del Plata ,Argentina , and won a silver medal. A year later he represented his native country at the1996 Summer Olympics , where he was defeated in the first round.On
July 25 ,2003 , Cotto was supposed to fight inPhoenix, Arizona . However, his opponent had trouble getting a license to fight, as he had been knocked out recently and was serving a 45 day suspension from another state. The Arizona boxing commission was not able to find Cotto an opponent in time and the fight got cancelled.On
September 5 , at his native Caguas, Cotto finally returned to action, with a first round knockout win over Johnny Walker. OnDecember 19 , he fought Anthony Martinez in Aibonito, winning by an eighth round knockout.Cotto moved to Phoenix early in 2004. On
April 14 of that year he stopped MexicanLuis Lizarraga at two minutes and thirty seven seconds of the first round to win the minor,International Boxing Council title.On
August 6 , he beat former world championAl Kotey by a ten round unanimous decision at San Juan. OnAugust 20 ,2005 , Cotto would have boxed Manuel Medina, with a world title shot at stake. But he was not able to make the fight's weight limit and the fight was cancelled.On
January 20 ,2006 , Cotto knockedUbaldo Hernandez out in seven rounds atMayfield, California . OnApril 8 , he received his first world title try, losing a twelve round decision to Juan Díaz as part of aPay Per View undercard, for the WBA world Lightweight title.In May 2007, he and
Prawat Singwangcha (30-3-1, 18 KOs) battled to a twelve round draw in a bout for the vacant WBA lightweight title.See also
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Boxing at the 1995 Pan American Games
*Boxing at the 1996 Summer Olympics External links
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* [http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/co/jose-cotto-1.html Profile]
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