“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.
