{"id":8535,"date":"2011-03-10T10:29:15","date_gmt":"2011-03-10T15:29:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=8535"},"modified":"2011-03-10T10:29:15","modified_gmt":"2011-03-10T15:29:15","slug":"miguel-cotto-ricardo-mayorga-press-conference-quotes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=8535","title":{"rendered":"Miguel Cotto -Ricardo Mayorga Press Conference Quotes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>For a marquee pay-per-view affair entitled \u201cRelentless,\u201d Nicaraguan boxing superstar Ricardo Mayorga remains determined to live up to the event\u2019s name with unyielding trash talk toward WBA Super Welterweight champion and the Pride of Puerto Rico, Miguel Cotto until the first bell of their championship matchup on Saturday, March 12 at 9 p.m. ET\/6 p.m. PT LIVE on SHOWTIME PPV.<\/p>\n

At Wednesday\u2019s final press conference from the Media Center at MGM Grand, the mouthy former two-division world champion delivered some final verbal blows in his last official appearance behind the microphone before Saturday\u2019s scrap. Cotto, though more reserved than Mayorga, provided his share of quips as well. As Mayorga taunted Cotto to take the traditional face off shot from the dais, Cotto responded, \u201cYou can take the picture with your mother,\u201d and left the press conference.<\/p>\n

Below are some highlights from the loud, spirited news conference, including quotes from Hall of Fame promoters Bob Arum, Don King and Cotto\u2019s trainer Emmanuel Steward.<\/p>\n

Cotto:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cMayorga can check with his promoter to see if I\u2019m a favorite of eight to one or six to one. Just check to make sure who [Don King] bet on. We know he\u2019s bet on the other guys many times and not his fighters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can retire any time I want with all I\u2019ve done in my career. I don\u2019t have to do this. But I\u2019m ready for the fight.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving Manny Steward on our team, he doesn\u2019t just work with Miguel Cotto. He works with the whole team. We are pretty grateful for Manny and the way he works and the way he teaches us to be better.\u201d<\/p>\n

On coming out of fights clean win or lose:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s better for you. You don\u2019t have to pass this process to be cleared in the hospital. It\u2019s better for you to be healthy. The number one thing in my life next to my family is my health.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response to King\u2019s incessant shouting from the back of the dais:<\/p>\n

\u201cYou finished?\u201d<\/p>\n

Mayorga:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to thank Bob Arum for allowing me to eat his sheep on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m either going to knock Cotto down or I\u2019m going to bust him open with a cut on one of [his] two eyes. I guarantee you that\u2019s going to happen in the first round. As soon as that bell sounds, I\u2019m going after him. I\u2019m going to kill this guy. I can sense that Cotto has a genuine fear of me. I can see it in his eyes. I can see it in his face.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can acknowledge that Miguel Cotto was a good, if not great fighter, at a lower [weight] class. At 154 pounds, he is in the wrong territory. It\u2019s not his category. When he beat Yuri Foreman, he basically beat a guy with one arm and one leg. I\u2019m going to shatter Cotto\u2019s dreams.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhoever is on Cotto\u2019s side, they\u2019re going to have to wear black come Sunday. Tell the athletic commission to have 911 really close by the ring Saturday night because Cotto is going to be in bad shape.<\/p>\n

\u201cRicardo Mayorga was born in Granada, Nicaragua in 1973, March 10. Today is March 9. Tomorrow I turn 38. Today I\u2019m 37 but tomorrow I\u2019ll be 38. I asked God personally for my birthday gift to give me this victory against Cotto. I\u2019m not only going to win. It\u2019s going to be a brutal knockout. I\u2019m going to see if I can break a record. I\u2019m going to try to score the fastest knockout in the year 2011.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis time around, I took this fight very seriously. I sacrificed what I haven\u2019t before. December, January and February, I sacrificed all those months not being with my family and putting my all into this training camp. I need to earn a Golden ticket. If I [end the fight] in the first four rounds, I think I\u2019ve earned the respect and at the same time, the opportunity to fight Manny Pacquiao. Pacquiao knocked out Cotto in, I think, the ninth or tenth round so I want to knock him out in four so people know that I\u2019m better.\u201d<\/p>\n

After taking off his shirt, Mayorga remarked, \u201cLook how ripped I am. Do I look overweight? Tell Cotto to lift his shirt up and you\u2019ll see the beer gut he\u2019s got.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guarantee you that after the fight, Cotto nor Manny [Steward} will be at the post fight press conference. Cotto will be at the hospital and Manny will be there with him<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are you planning on doing when I beat you? Continue in boxing or look for a job? All Nicaraguans and Latins alike, including Puerto Ricans are going to bet on me and not on Cotto because they know what the smart bet is. After the fight, they are no longer going to call him Miguel Jose Cotto. They\u2019ll call him Miguel Jose Mayorga. I\u2019m going to finish the job and send you back over to Ricky Martin so you can finish your job.\u201d<\/p>\n

King:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no fighter that can promote a fight better than Mayorga can. He\u2019s the most promotable fighter out here. The biggest opponent he has is himself. If he could neutralize himself, he would be undeniably unbeatable but he falls prey to himself. If he can do what he\u2019s doing right now, dedicatedly and committedly, it\u2019s going to be great for the sport of boxing.<\/p>\n

\u201cEight to one odds? Being as gullible as I am, you think I could get a million dollars on Mayorga because I think I can see eight million coming back. Mayorga is going to surprise everyone in the world. It is something that will be categorically beautiful.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Cotto were to knock out Mayorga, that would be business as usual. There would be nothing to it. Nobody would have to worry about nothing that would be something. But if Mayorga knocks out Cotto, now you\u2019ve got history in the making. Now you\u2019ve got something that you\u2019d never forget. \u201cYou\u2019d say, \u2018I was there, I saw this fight.\u2019 Now, we\u2019re looking for somebody else that Arum\u2019s got: Pacquiao. I want everything Arum has. This is the stepping stone to the inner sanctum to all the rubies and gold and jewels and I\u2019m after them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arum:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a business man and as Don\u2019s talking, all I can see is [the media] sending out the message and people, all over the country, buying the pay-per-view.<\/p>\n

\u201cMiguel has sold more pay-per-view homes than any other fighter in the history of Puerto Rico, in the history of the world. He\u2019s a tremendous draw on the island of Puerto Rico which truly loves Miguel.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen fighters get up and talk a lot, what happens? They expend energy. I told Emmanuel, let the guy keep talking. Let him talk for the next hour because Saturday night, he\u2019ll be a lot weaker. My champion, Miguel Cotto fights in the ring and that\u2019s where he shows his greatness because no talk means anything at the press conference.\u201d<\/p>\n

King interrupts, \u201cHarvard! That\u2019s Harvard Strategy. We\u2019re expending energy. We will see if the intellectual strategy of Harvard prevails over the streets!\u201d<\/p>\n

Arum responds, \u201cTo paraphrase the Harvard fight song: With crimson flowing into the ring in defeat, they will raise the hand of the victor\u2026Miguel Cotto.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steward:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a good thing that fights are not won at press conferences because we\u2019d be knocked out of the box. Miguel Cotto is going to knock out Mayorga. It won\u2019t go over four rounds. [Mayorga] has been training since January but he doesn\u2019t have the skills or the power. Miguel is in great shape, punching sharp and accurate. It\u2019s going to be exciting. Both are known for good fights but there is no way Mayorga can avoid being knocked out inside of four rounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can talk after the fight and Don can come up and waive one flag, a white flag.<\/p>\n

After Mayorga pulled off his shirt while interrupting Steward\u2019s statement:<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re out of your class. You can pull your shirt off, you can get butt naked up here but it still doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re going to win the fight. You want be talking after Saturday night. You won\u2019t be pulling up nothing. You\u2019ll be laying flat on your back. We\u2019re planning our celebration. We\u2019ve got two parties already planned.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we all get older in life, we think a little bit before we do things. And I\u2019ve noticed in watching Mayorga\u2019s last fight, he\u2019s slowing down on his impulsive style of fighting. Fundamental boxing will win \u2013 a solid, hard left jab [from Cotto] which will get there faster than Mayorga\u2019s wide looping punches.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe two most important things in fighting Mayorga are: you don\u2019t let bully you and just let him run you down\u2026. and you don\u2019t block his punches; you let him miss completely.\u201d<\/p>\n

The media fight week schedule continues TOMORROW\/Thursday, March 10 at 10:30 a.m. PT in the Media Center at MGM Grand with a trainers roundtable featuring the world-renowned trainers in town for Saturday\u2019s fight, including Steward. Following the trainers roundtable in the same room, the fighters from the pay-per-view undercard including Yuri Foreman, Pawel Wolak, Miguel Vazquez, Lenny Zappavigna, Richard Byrant and Baltimore Ravens safety and former Notre Dame standout Tommy Zbikowski will assemble for a final press conference at 11:30 a.m. PT.<\/p>\n

Thursday\u2019s activities will conclude with a special media Q&A moderated by SHOWTIME boxing analyst Al Bernstein with legendary promoters Arum and King to discuss their storied 40-plus-year rivalry, the state of boxing and their first co-promotion in five years at 6:00 p.m. PT in the Media Center at MGM Grand. The open discussion will be streamed live at www.sports.sho.com and www.toprank.com\/TRLiveStream.<\/p>\n

\u201cRelentless: Cotto vs. Mayorga\u201d will be promoted by Top Rank, in association with Cotto Promotions, Don King Productions, Tecate and MGM Grand, and produced and distributed LIVE by SHOWTIME PPV, beginning at 9 p.m. ET\/6 p.m. PT on Saturday, March 12.<\/p>\n

Remaining tickets, priced at $400, $300, $200, $100 and $50, not including applicable service charges, can be purchased at all Las Vegas Ticketmaster locations (select Smith\u2019s Food and Drug Centers and Ritmo Latino). Tickets sales are limited to 16 per person. To charge by phone with a major credit card, call Ticketmaster (800) 745-3000. Tickets are also available for purchase at www.mgmgrand.com or www.ticketmaster.com.<\/p>\n

Advertise Now On RSR<\/a><\/p>\n

Purchase Boxing Interviews Of A Lifetime<\/a><\/p>\n

Pre-Order the Horror Thriller FAMILY SECRET Now!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For a marquee pay-per-view affair entitled \u201cRelentless,\u201d Nicaraguan boxing superstar Ricardo Mayorga remains determined to live up to the event\u2019s name with unyielding trash talk toward WBA Super Welterweight champion and the Pride of Puerto Rico, Miguel Cotto until the first bell of their championship matchup on Saturday, March 12 at 9 p.m. ET\/6 p.m. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[105,910,2823,607,2898],"class_list":["post-8535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boxing-news","tag-boxing","tag-miguel-cotto","tag-press-conference","tag-ricardo-mayorga","tag-showtime-ppv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8535"}],"version-history":[{"count":-3,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8535\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}