José Cotto

José Cotto
Statistics
Real name	José Miguel Cotto Vázquez
Weight(s)	Super bantamweight Featherweight Super featherweight Lightweight Light welterweight Welterweight Light middleweight
Height	5 ft 5.5 in (1.66 m)
Nationality	Puerto Rican
Born	(1977-06-22) June 22, 1977 (age 44) Caguas, Puerto Rico
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	38
Wins	33
Wins by KO	24
Losses	4
Draws	1
Medal record Men's boxing Representing  Puerto Rico Pan American Games 1995 Mar del Plata Bantamweight

José Miguel Cotto Vázquez (born June 22, 1977) is a Puerto Rican professional boxer and a four-time regional level champion. He is the brother of six-time world boxing champion Miguel Cotto and the cousin of lightweight contender Abner Cotto.

Amateur career[]

In 1995 as an amateur, he participated at the Pan American Games in Mar del Plata, Argentina, and won a silver medal. A year later he represented his native country at the 1996 Summer Olympics, where he was defeated in the first round.

Pro career[]

He won the WBC Youth World super bantamweight title on August 20, 2000, a split decision win against a capable young Fernando Velardez (who would later fight Mexican legend Erik Morales for Morales' WBC Featherweight title).

On July 25, 2003, Cotto was supposed to fight in Phoenix, 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 9, at his native Caguas, Cotto finally returned to action, with a first-round knockout win over Johnny Walker. On December 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 Mexican Luis Lizarraga at two minutes and thirty seven seconds of the first round to win the regional, International Boxing Council (IBC) Intercontinental super featherweight title. He has also won the vacant WBO intercontinental super featherweight title during his fight with Genaro Trazancos.

On August 6, he beat former WBA Bantamweight champion Al Kotey by a ten-round unanimous decision in San Juan. On August 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 29, 2005, Cotto knocked out Armando Cordoba in the first round to win the vacant WBO NABO lightweight title.

On January 20, 2006, Cotto knocked Ubaldo Hernandez out in seven rounds at Mayfield, California. On April 8, he received his first world title try, losing a twelve-round decision to Juan Díaz as part of a Pay Per View undercard, for the WBA world Lightweight title in an exciting fight where both contestants threw nearly a hundred punches per round.

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.

Cotto then proceeded to fight Canelo Álvarez at welterweight. Cotto got off to a good start and almost knocked out Alvarez, in round 2 Cotto went down after missing a hook. The referee stopped the fight in round 9 after Cotto was trapped in the corner and was taking many flush right hands by Alvarez.

On April 9, 2011 he lost a 10-round unanimous decision to former IBF Light Welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi, managing to buckle Maligaggi a couple of times.

He was scheduled to face former two time lightweight champion José Luis Castillo on February 11, 2012, though it was cancelled due to Castillo coming in overweight. On April 21, 2012 Jose Cotto beat Eric Cruz (13-8 13 KO's) by UD over 10 rounds, knocking the overmatched opponent down twice.

Professional boxing record (incomplete)[]

33 Wins (24 knockouts), 4 loss(s), 1 Draw, 0 No Contest [1]
Res.	Record	Opponent	Type	Rd., Time	Date	Location	Notes
Loss	33-4-1	Manuel Pérez	SD	10	2012-07-21	Oasis Hotel Complex, Cancún, Quintana Roo	For NABA Lightweight title.
Win	33-3-1	Eric Cruz	UD	10	2012-04-21	Coliseo Roger L. Mendoza, Caguas
Loss	32-3-1	Paulie Malignaggi	UD	10	2011-04-09	MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas
Win	32-2-1	Christopher Henry	TKO	4 (10), 1:19	2010-11-05	Coliseo Cosme Beitia Salamo, Cataño
Loss	31-2-1	Canelo Álvarez	TKO	9 (10), 2:51	2010-05-01	MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas	For NABF Welterweight title.
Win	31-1-1	Ilido Julio	TKO	6 (8)	2009-12-19	Coliseo Roger L. Mendoza, Caguas
Win	30-1-1	Martin Ramirez	KO	3 (8), 2:52	2009-09-26	Coliseo Héctor Solá Bezares, Caguas
Win	29-1-1	Anthony Woods	TKO	4 (8), 2:24	2009-08-29	Coliseo Ruben Viera, Las Piedras
Draw	28-1-1	Prawet Singwancha	MD	12	2007-05-11	Coliseo Angel 'Cholo' Espada, Salinas	For vacant WBA World Lightweight title.
Win	28-1-0	Ivan Hernandez	TKO	10 (10), 1:57	2006-08-04	Coliseo Pedrín Zorrilla, Hato Rey
Loss	27-1-0	Juan Díaz	UD	12	2006-04-08	Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas	For WBA World Lightweight title.
Win	26-0-0	Ubaldo Hernandez	KO	7 (10), 2:59	2006-01-20	Activity Center, Maywood, California
Win	25-0-0	Genaro Trazancos	TKO	7 (12), 1:00	2005-03-04	Coliseo Pedrín Zorrilla, Hato Rey	Won vacant WBO Inter-Continental Super Featherweight title.
Win	24-0-0	Armando Cordoba	KO	1 (12), 1:27	2005-01-29	Coliseo Rubén Rodríguez, Hato Rey	Won vacant WBO NABO Lightweight title.
Win	23-0-0	Alfred Kotey	UD	10	2004-08-06	Coliseo Pedrín Zorrilla, Hato Rey
Win	22-0-0	Luis Alfonso Lizarraga	KO	1 (11), 2:27	2004-05-14	Dodge Theater, Phoenix, Arizona	Won IBC Intercontinental Lightweight title.

See also[]

• Boxing at the 1995 Pan American Games
• Boxing at the 1996 Summer Olympics
• List of Puerto Ricans

External links[]

• Boxing record for José Cotto from BoxRec
• Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "José Cotto". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2020-04-18.