José Miguel Cotto Vázquez (born June 22, 1977) is a Puerto Rican

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

and a four-time regional level champion. He is the brother of six-time world boxing champion

Miguel Cotto Miguel Ángel Cotto Vázquez (born October 29, 1980) is a Puerto Rican former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2017. He is a multiple-time world champion, and the first Puerto Rican boxer to win quadruple champion, world titles in fo ...

and the cousin of lightweight contender Abner Cotto.

Amateur career

In 1995, as an

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

, he participated at the

Pan American Games The Pan American Games, known as the Pan Am Games, is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas. It features thousands of athletes participating in competitions to win different summer sports. It is held among athletes from nations of th ...

Mar del Plata Mar del Plata is a city on the coast of the Argentine Sea, Atlantic Ocean, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the seat of General Pueyrredón Partido, General Pueyrredón district. Mar del Plata is the second largest city in Buenos Aires ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, and won a silver medal. A year later, he represented his native country at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

, where he was defeated in the first round.

Pro career

He won the WBC Youth World

super bantamweight Super bantamweight, also known as junior featherweight, is a boxing weight classes, weight class in professional boxing, contested from and up to . There were attempts by boxing promoters in the 1920s to establish this weight class, but few sanct ...

title on August 20, 2000, a split decision win against a capable young Fernando Velardez (who would later fight Mexican legend

Erik Morales Erik Isaac Morales Elvira (born September 1, 1976) is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2012. He is the first Mexico-born boxer in history to quadruple champion, win world championships in four weight classes, rangin ...

for Morales' WBC

Featherweight Featherweight is a weight class in the combat sports of boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and Greco-Roman wrestling. Boxing Professional boxing History A featherweight boxer weighs in at a limit of . In the early days of the division, ...

title). On July 25, 2003, Cotto was supposed to fight in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

. 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 unable to find Cotto an opponent in time, and the fight got cancelled. On September 9, at his native

Caguas Caguas (, ) is a city and municipality in central eastern Puerto Rico. Located in the eponymous Caguas Valley between the Sierra de Cayey and Sierra de Luquillo of the Central Mountain Range, it is bordered by San Juan and Trujillo Alto to ...

, Cotto finally returned to action, with a first-round knockout win over Johnny Walker. On December 19, he fought Anthony Martinez in

Aibonito Aibonito () is a small mountain town and municipality in Puerto Rico located in the Sierra de Cayey mountain range, north of Salinas; south of Barranquitas and Comerío; east of Coamo; and west of Cidra, and Cayey. Aibonito is spread over 8 ...

, 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 P List of boxing organisations in chronological order by the year of their establishment. The four major sanctioning bodies are in bold. All List Global (Worldwide) Continental * WBA Asia - 2014 * WBA Oceania * Federación Latinoamericana de ...

(IBC)

Intercontinental InterContinental Hotels & Resorts by IHG is a British-American luxury hotel brand created in 1946 by Pan Am founder Juan Trippe. It has been part of UK-based InterContinental Hotels Group since 1998. As of January 2023, there were 208 InterC ...

super featherweight Super featherweight, also known as junior lightweight, is a weight division in professional boxing, contested between and . The super featherweight division was established by the New York Walker Law in 1920, although first founded by the New ...

title. He has also won the vacant

WBO The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxin ...

intercontinental InterContinental Hotels & Resorts by IHG is a British-American luxury hotel brand created in 1946 by Pan Am founder Juan Trippe. It has been part of UK-based InterContinental Hotels Group since 1998. As of January 2023, there were 208 InterC ...

title during his fight with Genaro Trazancos. On August 6, he beat former WBA

Bantamweight Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports and weightlifting. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In mixed martial arts, MMA, bantamweight is . The name for the class ...

champion Al Kotey by a ten-round unanimous decision in

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John (disambiguation), Saint John, most commonly refers to: * San Juan, Puerto Rico * San Juan, Argentina * San Juan, Metro Manila, a highly urbanized city in the Philippines San Juan may also refer to: Places Arge ...

. On August 20, 2005, Cotto would have boxed Manuel Medina, with a world title shot at stake. But he was unable 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

NABO

lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing (sport), rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) boxing weight classes, weight class in the spor ...

title. On January 20, 2006, Cotto knocked Ubaldo Hernandez out in seven rounds at

Mayfield, California Mayfield was a historic town in Santa Clara County, California. It was one of the oldest towns, predating the establishment of nearby Palo Alto and Stanford University. In 1853, prior to its becoming a town, Elisha Oscar Crosby acquired a parce ...

. 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 Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program ...

undercard, for the WBA world

Lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing (sport), rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) boxing weight classes, weight class in the spor ...

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

title. Cotto then proceeded to fight

Canelo Álvarez Santos Saúl Álvarez Barragán (; born 18 July 1990), commonly known as Canelo or Saúl Álvarez, is a Mexican professional boxer. He has held multiple quadruple champion#Boxing, world championships in four weight classes, from light middlewe ...

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 Light welterweight, also known as junior welterweight or super lightweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional boxing In professional boxing, light welterweight is contested between the lightweight and welterweight divisions, ...

champion

Paulie Malignaggi Paul Malignaggi (; ; born November 23, 1980) is an Italian-American former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2017 and has since worked as a boxing commentator and analyst, currently with BYB Extreme Bare Knuckle Fighting Series and P ...

, managing to buckle Maligaggi a couple of times. He was scheduled to face former two time lightweight champion

José Luis Castillo José Luis Castillo (born December 14, 1973) is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1990 to 2014. Generally considered one of the best lightweights of his era, he is a two-time world champion at that weight, having held the WB ...

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)

, - , align="center" colspan=8, 33 Wins (24 knockouts), 4 loss(s), 1 Draw, 0 No Contest''

, - , align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Res. , align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Record , align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Opponent , align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Type , align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Rd., Time , align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Date , align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Location , align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Notes , -align=center , Loss, , 33-4-1, , align=left, Manuel Pérez (boxer), Manuel Pérez , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Win, , 33-3-1, , align=left, Eric Cruz , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Loss, , 32-3-1, , align=left,

, , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Win, , 32-2-1, , align=left, Christopher Henry , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Loss, , 31-2-1, , align=left,

, , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Win, , 31-1-1, , align=left, Ilido Julio , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Win, , 30-1-1, , align=left, Martin Ramirez , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Win, , 29-1-1, , align=left, Anthony Woods , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , style="background:#abcdef;", Draw, , 28-1-1, , align=left, Prawet Singwancha , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Win, , 28-1-0, , align=left, Ivan Hernandez , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Loss, , 27-1-0, , align=left, Juan Díaz , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Win, , 26-0-0, , align=left, Ubaldo Hernandez , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Win, , 25-0-0, , align=left, Genaro Trazancos , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Win, , 24-0-0, , align=left, Armando Cordoba , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Win, , 23-0-0, , align=left,

Alfred Kotey Alfred Kotey (3 June 1968 – 30 June 2020) was a Ghanaian professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2012. He held the WBO bantamweight title from 1994 to 1995 and at regional level the Commonwealth flyweight title from 1989 to 1990. As an ama ...

, , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Win, , 22-0-0, , align=left, Luis Alfonso Lizarraga , , , , , , align=left, , align=left,

External links

* * , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Cotto, Jose Lightweight boxers Boxers at the 1995 Pan American Games Boxers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic boxers for Puerto Rico Sportspeople from Caguas, Puerto Rico 1977 births Living people Puerto Rican male boxers Pan American Games silver medalists for Puerto Rico Pan American Games boxers for Puerto Rico Pan American Games silver medalists in boxing Medalists at the 1995 Pan American Games 20th-century American sportsmen

Amateur career

Pro career

Professional boxing record (incomplete)

See also

External links