It's not often that a Hall of Famer announces his final fight months in advance, as is the case with Miguel Cotto. Several world-class boxers are now going public about wanting to be Cotto's final opponent.
Cotto has insisted that 2017 will be his last year as a boxer and reinforced that statement even further when he defeated Yoshihiro Kamegai to win the vacant WBO junior middleweight title on August 26. Although Cotto said he would like to fight the winner of the Canelo Alvarez-Gennady Golovkin fight, other boxers have stepped up to the plate and make their pitch on being Cotto's final opponent, including WBC lightweight champion Mikey Garcia.
One other name that put his name into the Cotto sweepstakes is longtime rival Antonio Margarito. Cotto fought Margarito twice, once in 2008 and once in 2011. Margarito won the first fight, but Cotto got revenge three years later, seemingly retiring Margarito for years before Margarito returned to the ring last year. Before his fight against Carson Jones on September 2, a fight that Margarito won, the former welterweight world champion said he's not done with Cotto and wants to retire him and complete the trilogy.
"I repeat: I will win on Saturday, it will be a great fight and then I will ask for Miguel Cotto - because I want to retire him in December. That rivalry is still not over. He punches like a girl and he knows that he was assisted in the second fight," Margarito told the media during fight week.
Even British fighters, such as Liam Smith and Kell Brook have been interested in making a Cotto fight possible. Smith is fighting Liam Williams in November in a WBO junior middleweight title eliminator.
Lastly, former IBF middleweight champion David Lemieux is also another name that wants to retire the Puerto Rican legend. On his website, Lemieux went public about his desire to fight Cotto. Lemieux has been rumored to be Cotto's final opponent for a December HBO card in New York.
?Miguel Cotto, let?s get this fight for the fans. Be ready for war,? Lemieux said.
Cotto is one of two Puerto Rican boxers to have one world titles at four different weight classes.