Who is Cotto?

Miguel Ángel Cotto (born October 29, 1980 in Caguas, Puerto Rico) is a Puerto Rican professional boxer. As an amateur, Cotto represented Puerto Rico in the lightweight and light welterweight divisions at various international events including the 1999 Pan American Games, the 2000 Summer Olympics and the 1998 Junior World Championships where he won a silver medal. Cotto began his professional career in 2001, and on September 11, 2004, he defeated Kelson Pinto for the WBO junior welterweight championship. He defended the title successfully a total of six times, before vacating it when he ascended to the welterweight division. On his first match on this division he defeated Carlos Quintana for the vacant WBA welterweight championship. Cotto successfully defended this title against Oktay Urkal, Zab Judah, Shane Mosley and Alfonso Gómez, before losing it to Antonio Margarito. On February 21, 2009, he defeated Michael Jennings to win the vacant WBO welterweight championship. Cotto was born and raised in Caguas, with several figures linked to boxing in his family, including his father Miguel Cotto Sr., his brother José Miguel Cotto, his second cousin Abner Cotto and his uncle and boxing trainer Evangelista Cotto. He is married to Melissa Guzmán with whom he has two children, Alondra and Miguel Cotto III.[1] Cotto has a daughter outside of this marriage with another woman, who was born in November 2006.[2] On May 29, 2007, Cotto solicited a Protection Order against the mother of his child.[3] The order was granted and it prevented her from gaining access to Cotto's house in the "Valle del Turabo" sector of Caguas, Puerto Rico and the Bairoa Gym, where he usually trains.[4] The case was dropped on June 14, 2007, when Cotto attended a citation and asked judge Bernardo Solá to lift the Protection Order.[5] Outside of his involvement as an active boxer, Cotto also owns and presides a boxing promotion named "Promociónes Miguel Cotto", which organizes fight cards in Puerto Rico.[6] Similarly he founded "El Ángel", a non-profit organization that promotes physical activity and measures against infant obesity.[7] Marc Ecko, fashion designer and owner of Eckō, selected Cotto when promoting the brand within the sport, citing the boxer's "fearless" demeanor as one of the main reasons behind this agreement.[8] Product of this partnership, Eckō produced boxing gear for him as well as mainstream clothing accessories for the general public. As a child, Cotto was taken to the Bairoa Gym in Caguas.[9] There, he was able to develop into a top amateur fighter who won several international competitions and represented Puerto Rico at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.[9] After being eliminated from those games in the first classificatory round, Cotto decided to turn professional.[9] Cotto participated in several international tournaments, these include: The 1998 Junior World Championships that took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he finished in second place while competing in the Lightweight division.[9] His three victories here were by points, the results were: Andrey Kolevin of Ukraine by points 15-3; Dana Laframboise of Canada by points 6-1, and Darius Jasevicius representing Lithuania 9-5. His only loss was to Anton Solopov of Russia by points with a score of 8-9. In 1999, Cotto competed in the Pan American Games that took place in Winnipeg, Canada. He only fought once in a loss to Dana Laframboise of Canada by points with a final score of 2-5. Following his participation in the Pan American tournament, Cotto was part of the Boxing World Championships in Houston, Texas.[9] He lost his only fight by points to Robertas Nomeikas. In his final amateur tournament, Cotto represented Puerto Rico as a Light Welterweight at 2000 Sydney Olympic Games where he lost to Mahamadkadir Abdullayev of Uzbekistan by points.