The New York City leg of the Cotto vs Canelo press tour took place Wednesday at the New Yorker Hotel in Mid-town Manhattan.
BSO was covering the event live and had the opportunity to get some candid comments from the fighters themselves, and Miguel Cotto’s trainer Freddie Roach.
The whirlwind North American press tour for the November 21 bout in Las Vegas got started with some very blunt remarks made by Freddie Roach on Canelo’s training regiment–which he’s commonly called out as ‘lazy’.
Roach backed up those comments and elaborated to the media:
Roach on where Cotto ranks as all-time great Puerto Rican fighters #CottoCanelopic.twitter.com/neZOMZdjxB
— Ashley Nicole (@geeksandcleats) August 26, 2015
With such early seeds of rivalry growing as the press tour continues, the most prevalent theme to the bolster the rivalry in question is the national feud between Mexico and Puerto Rico in the boxing ring.
Golden Boy Production’s very own Oscar De La Hoya can speak of his own personal experience on dealing with this rivalry from first-hand experience. Both Miguel Cotto and Canelo Alvarez were bombarded with questions about the importance and history behind Mexico vs Puerto Rico in the world of boxing and both fighters maintained that their main focus was on training and giving the best fight possible.
Cotto never wavered when faced in front of media and let his confidence to the talking.
Cotto guaranteeing a victory pic.twitter.com/MDu4SnkD2Q
— Ashley Nicole (@geeksandcleats) August 26, 2015
The New Yorker Hotel was a packed with a mixed and boisterous crowd waving the boxer’s respective national flags and chanting as the two met face to face on stage.
The press conference was conducted very business as usual as the fight looms in the distance. Whatever braggadocio might have been displayed in the form of a harsh and personal comment or self aggrandizing remark was left thinly veiled with a mutual passion to leave everything in the ring come late November at Mandalay Bay.
Who better than set that tone than Jay Z, who along with his Roc Nation Sports team was also live in the building.
The most likely ‘fight of the year’ will start coverage 9PM EST on HBO PPV live from Las Vegas