Miguel Cotto's welterweight unification title fight with Antonio Margarito will be held in Las Vegas on July 26, The Associated Press learned Tuesday.
Cotto, the undefeated WBA champion from Puerto Rico, will headline a Las Vegas card for the first time when he meets IBF champion Margarito at the MGM Grand Garden, according to a person familiar with the decision who spoke on condition of anonymity because the completed deal won't be announced until next week.
Cotto (32-0, 26 KOs) hasn't fought in Las Vegas since Dec. 11, 2004, on the undercard of Vitali Klitschko's bout with Danny Williams. His last 10 fights were held in Atlantic City, Puerto Rico or New York, where he usually performs before loud, enthusiastic crowds - but the rising welterweight star's debut as a West Coast pay-per-view attraction is shaping up as the most tantalizing fight of the summer.
Promoter Bob Arum recently said he was interested in holding the fight in Las Vegas to promote Cotto to a new audience while also playing to Margarito's Mexican-American fans in California. Arum believes a Las Vegas bout will perform better on pay-per-view as well.
The Las Vegas notion gained momentum last month when the Nevada Athletic Commission amended its provisional rules on glove size, allowing welterweights to wear 8-ounce gloves instead of the previously mandated 10-ounce gloves. Nearly every other boxing jurisdiction allows welterweights to fight in 8-ounce gloves, and both Cotto and Margarito both likely would have refused to fight in Las Vegas without their usual gloves.
Margarito (36-5, 26 KOs) earned his shot at Cotto by taking Kermit Cintron's IBF title with a sixth-round knockout on April 12, moments before Cotto stopped Alfonso Gomez on the same card in Atlantic City. Margarito, who lost his WBO welterweight title to Paul Williams last summer, dominated Cintron for the second time in their careers to claim another belt.
Cotto's powerful punching and tenacity have made him the biggest threat to pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr., the WBC welterweight champion who's more interested in reality television and big paydays than the primitive perils of a matchup with Cotto. Though Arum repeatedly has called out Mayweather on behalf of his client, Cotto hasn't joined the chorus, remaining content to fight whomever Arum puts in front of him.
With Mayweather still apparently headed toward a rematch of his tedious split-decision win over Oscar De La Hoya in the richest fight in boxing history, Cotto's meeting with Margarito likely is the most enticing fight coming up in the loaded welterweight division.
De La Hoya, who beat Steve Forbes on May 3, has said he would be interested in closing out his career with a fight against Cotto in December.
