After many months of uncertainty, Miguel Cotto finally has an opponent, date, venue, and most importantly for him, a shot at a world title.
According to ESPN’s Dan Rafael, Cotto will be fighting Yoshihiro Kamegai on August 26 at the StubHub Center in California for the vacant WBO super welterweight title. The fight will be televised on HBO.
The fight against Kamegai had been discussed for several weeks now after Cotto’s February fight against James Kirkland was canceled after Kirkland suffered an injury. Kamegai, who is signed on to Golden Boy Promotions, is a former Japanese champion as a super lightweight, but never challenged for a major world title. Kamegai has a 27-3-2 record with 24 KOs.
Cotto recently split with promoter Roc Nation Sports, the company owned by music star Jay Z, because of issues regarding money being paid to Cotto regarding a fight with Kamegai. The Puerto Rican star is the only male boxer from the country to win world titles in four different weight classes (light welterweight, welterweight, super welterweight, middleweight).
Cotto's reign as the WBA super welterweight champion started in 2010 when he stopped Yuri Foreman at Yankee Stadium. He defended the title twice against Ricardo Mayorga and Antonio Margarito before losing it to Floyd Mayweather in 2012. Cotto has not fought since November 2015 when he lost to Canelo Alvarez. Ironically, the vacant WBO title belonged to Canelo, but he vacated the title in order to pursue a superfight with unified middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin.
Kamegai has not lost in his last three fights, going 2-0-1. He defeated Jesus Soto Karass in his last fight back in September 2016.
