Miguel Cotto has taken on the very best fighters of his generation as he became a four-division world champion.
Cotto fought the likes of Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather, and Canelo Alvarez before retiring with a professional record of 41-6.
‘Junito’ ended his 16-year career in 2017, after he lost his super welterweight title to Sadam Ali in New York.
However, there are plenty of memorable victories in the career of the Puerto Rican. In Cotto’s mind, there is one performance that stands above the others.
Miguel Cotto feels that his win over Shane Mosley was his greatest-ever performance
In an interview with Top Rank Boxing, Cotto reflected on his incredible career that would see him inducted into the hall of fame.
Cotto was asked in the interview how he overcame the challenge of Shane Mosley when the pair competed in November 2007.
The Puerto Rican replied, “Without a doubt, Shane was the best performance of my career.”
Cotto expanded by saying, “Shane was an outstanding fighter, and I needed to use whatever tools I had in my backpack to beat him, and I did it.”
When asked what he needed to beat Mosley on the night, Cotto referred to his speed. “I needed to be quicker than him and I think I did that in the best way possible.”
The former four-division champion then said that he took confidence from his performance over Mosley. “If I can beat Shane in his prime, I can do whatever I want, with anyone.”
Miguel Cotto defeated Shane Mosley via unanimous decision in 2007
Cotto had an unbeaten record of 30-0 and was the holder of the WBA World Welterweight title when he faced Mosley.
As for ‘Sugar’, he had a 44-4 record and was going into the bout with five straight wins.
Although both fighters raised their hands in victory at the end of the fight, the judges’ verdict announced Cotto as the winner. The scorecards read 115-113, 116-113, and 115-113.
Cotto would suffer the first defeat of his career the following year, when he was stopped by Antonio Margarito.
2009 would see Cotto suffer his second loss. Despite Cotto giving Pacquiao the toughest fight of his career, his record fell to 34-2.