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In the summer of 2000, I watched Miguel Cotto fight in the Olympics on TV. Though he lost his opening-round bout to Muhammad Abdullaev -- a loss he avenged by one-sided knockout in the pros five years later in his first fight at New York's Madison Square Garden -- I thought he was going to be a fantastic professional fighter. In that one brief amateur fight, it was obvious that he had a style made for the pro game. Not too long after the Olympics, I got a call from legendary Top Rank publicist Lee Samuels. He called to tell me the company had signed Cotto and wanted to know whether I knew anything about him. I excitedly told him how much I thought of his potential. It occurred to me that because he had signed with Top Rank, I would probably get to see a lot of his fights on the company's big undercards as he was brought up the ladder. Seventeen years later, Cotto stands as one of the best fighters of his generation. He's a slam-dunk first-ballot Hall of Famer. He became a superstar. He became one of the greatest fighters ever from Puerto Rico. He won six world titles and was the first man from the island to win world titles in four weight classes (junior welterweight, welterweight, junior middleweight and middleweight). Now he is saying goodbye with a farewell fight against Sadam Ali, against whom he will defend his junior middleweight world title on Saturday (HBO, 10 p.m. ET/PT) at Madison Square Garden, where Cotto, with New York's huge Puerto Rican community behind him, became a franchise. The fight with Ali will be Cotto's 10th bout -- all main events -- at the famed arena. I will be at ringside on Saturday to cover Cotto's finale. It will be the 26th Cotto fight I will cover in person. He is easily one of my favorite fighters to watch, and it has been a true joy to cover his Hall of Fame career beginning to end. Cotto (41-5, 33 KOs), 37, is a bit stoic, and he's never been overly media friendly, but I have always gotten on well with him and his team and found him to be a good guy to deal with. He came to fight hard every time he entered the ring; he was always in shape and was involved in many outstanding and dramatic fights. Win or lose, he always gave his best effort, showed bravery and gave the fans value for their money. If every fighter were like Cotto, boxing would be much better off. He never ducked anyone and fought every possible fight of consequence available. His list of opponents is a who's-who of his time: Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao, Sergio Martinez, Canelo Alvarez, Shane Mosley, Zab Judah, Antonio Margarito (twice), Austin Trout, Joshua Clottey, Paulie Malignaggi, Ricardo Mayorga and others. I covered all of Cotto's big fights and have many good memories. Here are few of them -- in chronological order -- though they are not necessarily all from his highest-profile fights: Walkimi Young, April 28, 2001, Hammerstein Ballroom, New York Cotto won a shutout four-round decision in his third pro fight across the street from the Garden on the nontelevised undercard of a welterweight title fight between the late Andrew "Six Heads" Lewis and Larry Marks on the long forgotten HBO boxing series "KO Nation." Cotto's fight was not a memorable one in terms of action, but I vividly recall sitting with then-HBO Sports executive Xavier James during the fight and giving him a little background on then-prospect Cotto. I told James that night that he should pay close attention to this kid because, in my view, he would become an HBO staple in the next few years. Well, Cotto became just that. The fight Saturday will be Cotto's 24th on the network, tying him with onetime rival Manny Pacquiao for fifth place on the network's all-time appearance list.
Ricardo Torres, Sept. 24, 2005, Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey This is the fight that made Cotto a star and the fight that he calls his most important. Torres was an undefeated but untested slugger who was Cotto's junior welterweight mandatory challenger. Torres took the fight on short notice, and nobody knew what to expect. It turned out to be an exceptional slugfest, one in which Cotto walked through fire to eventually score a seventh-round knockout in a fantastic fight. From that day forward, Cotto was must-see TV and a must-cover fighter.
Oktay Urkal, March 3, 2007, Roberto Clemente Coliseum, San Juan, Puerto Rico Cotto made his first welterweight title defense in dominant fashion by stopping Urkal in the 11th round before an adoring hometown crowd. I was really excited to get a chance to cover a Cotto fight in Puerto Rico. It was a huge event there -- all over newspaper front pages and heavily featured on the local newscasts. One newspaper put a special edition for fight night that was handed out to every car pulling into the arena parking lot. But what stood out to me most happened a couple of days before the fight when I, along with former New York Daily News boxing writer Tim Smith, approached Cotto for an interview after the final news conference. Cotto knew both of us from the previous fights of his we had covered, but he seemed genuinely moved and surprised that we had traveled a long way to cover him at home. He almost could not believe we had made the trip to cover his fight, and it was clear he was grateful that we were there. I really appreciated his sentiment.
Yuri Foreman, June 5, 2010, Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York At the newest version of Yankee Stadium, Cotto stopped Foreman in the ninth round to win a junior middleweight world title. Yankee Stadium, at least former versions of it, had a rich history of regularly hosting prize fights decades ago. Greats such as Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali fought there, but this was the first time it had hosted a boxing event in 34 years. It was one of the most memorable events I have ever covered because, besides being such a hardcore boxing fan, I am also a devoted lifelong Yankees fan. So to get the opportunity to sit on the field to cover the fight was a huge thrill. So was having the chance to wander into an empty Monument Park behind the outfield wall during a break in the undercard to see all of the statues and plaques of the team greats for the first time. I took a bunch of pictures. To this day there is still a rotting Yankees wrist band from that night wrapped around the handle of my laptop bag placed there after going through security.
Antonio Margarito II, Dec. 3, 2011, Madison Square Garden, New York Cotto got his revenge against Margarito when he destroyed his surgically repaired eye and the fight was stopped seconds into the 10th round. The atmosphere for this bitter rivalry fight was incredible. As a reporter, you learn not to root for fight outcomes. I can honestly say that for the most part I don't really care who wins or loses a fight. However, I am human, and there have been a few rare times when I have to admit to wanting to see a certain outcome. This was one of those fights. I will go to my grave believing, as Cotto and many others do, that when Margarito stopped Cotto in the 11th round of their first fight in 2008, he did so with loaded gloves. In his next fight Margarito was caught trying to fight Shane Mosley with illegal hand wraps. I highly doubt it was the first time. So when the rematch with Cotto was made, I was hoping he would dole out a beating of a lifetime to Margarito. Cotto did just that and ended Margarito's career as a significant fighter in a very satisfying performance.
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