Miguel Cotto insists there are still plenty of big names out there for him to fight even if Floyd Mayweather has retired.
Champion out to make his mark against Mexican in Las Vegas
Miguel Cotto is not too concerned over missing out on the chance to fight Floyd Mayweather, insisting that there are plenty of other big names out there.
With Pretty Boy now gone, the Puerto Rican will state his case to take over as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world on Saturday night.
He puts his WBA welterweight title on the line at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas when he takes on the dangerous Mexican Antonio Margarito.
While others are ready to crown Cotto the best in the business the man himself is just staying focused on the task in hand - hanging onto his belt and maintaining his perfect professional record.
Highest level
"If you give me the opportunity to put myself on the scale of boxers, I'm going to put Miguel Cotto at the highest level I can," Cotto (32-0, 26 KO) said.
"But my work is just to train and box. It is the work of the people who know about boxing, the writers, to put Miguel Cotto in the rank they think.
"It's not my work to put myself on a list. I'm just here to fight, to do my work the best I can."
Mayweather's somewhat surprising retirement has denied the boxing public the chance to see him go in against Cotto, a fighter with the power and skills to possibly give the American his toughest ever test.
However, the man known as 'Junito' knows there are plenty of other big names out there for him to go up against, particularly if he decided to move up in weight.
"If Mayweather is retired, it's all right," he added.
"We have a lot of big names at 147 pounds. He disappears from the list and another (replaces him)."
Dangerous
Before Cotto can contemplate anyone else he must first get by Margarito, a 30-year-old from Tijuana who has all the tools to cause an upset.
An impressive sixth round stoppage of Kermit Cintron last time out on the undercard to Cotto's destruction of Alfonso Gomez should act as a warning to the champion that he can take nothing for granted.
"We have been on a couple of cards together, and I have watched him fight," Margarito said of his opponent.
"He has gotten better every year. He had a really good run at 140 (pounds) and now 147, and he has turned into a very good fighter."
