Cotto-Clottey fight selling well for MSG

By DAVE SKRETTA, AP Sports Writer
NEW YORK (AP)—So much for all that discussion that boxing is dead. Or that the recession will finally finish it off, for that matter.

Bob Arum of promoter Top Rank said Thursday that more than 13,000 tickets have been sold for Miguel Cotto’s welterweight title fight against Joshua Clottey, and a sellout is expected on June 13 at Madison Square Garden.

“The response has been absolutely tremendous,” Arum said, adding that $500 ringside seats are already gone. Among those who plan to be in the crowd are Brandon Jacobs and several of his New York Giants teammates.

“The Mets and Yankees are playing that afternoon,” Arum said, “and hopefully the game will be over in time and a lot of them are coming to the fight.”

This will be the sixth time that Cotto, the WBO champion, will fight at the place that bills itself as the sport’s Mecca. It will also be the fourth time he’s fought on the eve of the Puerto Rican Day parade, when thousands of his countrymen typically turn out to support their hero.

Cotto (33-1, 27 KOs) knocked out Zab Judah to their delight two years ago, and beat Paul Malignaggi in his final fight at junior welterweight in 2006. The year before that, Cotto made his Garden debut by knocking out Mohamad Abdulaev in the ninth round.

Cotto is coming off an easy victory over Michael Jennings in February, a rebound fight after a stoppage loss to Antonio Margarito that many now view with skepticism. In the months that followed, Margarito was found to have a plaster-like substance on his hand wraps before a loss to Shane Mosley.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s a loss, every kind of event in your life teaches you something, you know?” Cotto said. “I learned a lot from my first loss of my career.”

Clottey (35-2, 20 KOs) represents a significant step up in class from Jennings, whose 34-1 record looked good on paper. Like Margarito, Clottey is considered large for a welterweight and has a style that could cause Cotto problems.

“I never expect an easy fight,” said Cotto, who’s been training in Tampa, Fla., since early April. “I always train very hard for every type of fighter.”

Cotto has been working with Joe Santiago, who took over as trainer after a much-publicized fallout between Cotto and his uncle Evangelista a few months ago.

The two family members had been arguing at the Bairoa Gymnasium in Caguas over where to hold camp and eventually came to blows, and Evangelista later drove to his nephew’s home and threw a cement block through his car window, police said.

Neither decided to pursue criminal charges, and Cotto declined to discuss the current state of their relationship, calling it a family matter.

“I don’t want to talk about that situation,” he said. “I’m here just to prepare myself to fight Joshua Clottey.”