José Miguel Cotto’s Championship Chase
José Miguel Cotto Vázquez is a Puerto Rican boxer from Caguas and the older brother of four-division world champion Miguel Cotto. José represented Puerto Rico at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and later won the NABO lightweight title. His best-known professional championship opportunity came in a 2007 draw for the vacant WBA lightweight crown.
Olympic and Pan American experience
Cotto won silver in bantamweight boxing at the 1995 Pan American Games in Mar del Plata, Argentina. The following year he represented Puerto Rico at the Atlanta Olympics in the men’s bantamweight division. Olympedia records him in a tie for 17th place; BoxRec lists a first-round loss to Russia’s Raimkul Malakhbekov.
A regional title and a world-title draw
As a professional, Cotto won the North American Boxing Organization lightweight title in January 2005. In May 2007, he challenged Thailand’s Prawet Singwancha for the vacant WBA lightweight championship in Salinas, Puerto Rico. The 12-round bout ended in a majority draw, so the title remained vacant. BoxingScene reported that Cotto, the older brother of Miguel, started well before Singwancha took over in the later rounds.
In May 2010, Cotto faced Saul “Canelo” Álvarez in Las Vegas. The World Boxing Association records a ninth-round technical knockout for Álvarez; BoxRec notes that Cotto was knocked down in the second round. The contest was a notable meeting in Cotto’s later career, but it was not a world-title win for him.
José Miguel Cotto’s 2010 fight with Canelo Álvarez was one of his notable later assignments. José also pursued his own championship career, separate from that of his younger brother Miguel, a four-division world champion.
José’s record is distinct: an Olympic and Pan American amateur run, a regional lightweight title, a draw in a vacant WBA championship contest, and a long professional career in Puerto Rico and the United States.
Cotto’s professional championship record includes a 2007 draw with Prawet Singwancha for the vacant WBA lightweight title. Because the fight ended level, neither boxer left as champion. That result followed Cotto’s amateur success and came before the later stages of his professional career, where he continued to compete against strong opposition. It is a useful detail when comparing his record with younger brother Miguel’s four-division championship résumé: José Miguel reached a world-title bout and won regional honors, but did not capture a major world title (WBA boxer profile).
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José Miguel Cotto, Boxing, Boxing History, Championship Results
