Hey, at least this one’s an exhibition.
Puerto Rican periodical El Nuevo Dia reports that local legend Miguel Cotto and fellow multi-division champion Juan Manuel Marquez will meet in a June 12th exhibition match. An official announcement will come on April 5th.
The location and respective purses remain unknown.
The 40-year-old Cotto (41-6, 33 KO) claimed titles in four weight classes before a 2017 loss to Sadam Ali led him to hang up the gloves. Marquez (56-7-1, 40 KO), 47, hasn’t seen action since battering Mike Alvarado in 2014. The two had some lengthy negotiations for an official fight in the middle of the ‘10s, but they ultimately fell apart over weight issues; considering Cotto was fairly well-established as a super welterweight and Marquez was undersized even at 147, that’s not terribly surprising.
Honestly, this is a lot more palatable than some of the other exhibitions on the schedule. Though both men had their fair share of wars during their Hall of Fame careers, they were still solid fighters by the time they hung up their gloves. I don’t think either of them are in serious danger of getting hurt, and they have the technical prowess to be entertaining even if they aren’t looking to take each other’s heads off.
As long as the promos don’t get too egregiously stupid, I’ve got no complaints about two legends getting a bit of extra dosh.