My adrenaline hasn’t stopped pumping yet since I got the call days ago. This is the type of fight that’s perfect for me, the perfect type of venue, the perfect type of launching pad for me and my career, that it had to be put together by God himself.” These are the words of one happy Austin Trout after hearing the news of landing a big fight against the third biggest draw in the sport of boxing in the U.S. by the name of Miguel Cotto.
Miguel Cotto and Austin Trout will be facing off in a December 1st showdown in Cotto’s adopted backyard of New York in the famous Madison Square Garden, a place where Cotto sold more tickets than any other boxer this decade. This is the big time for Austin “No Doubt” Trout and he knows it. “I never fought with a crowd that big, I been in hostile territory before, that’s nothing new. I been to Mexico about 4 times and fought Mexican fighters. Talk about hatred, they let me know they ain’t like me. This is a leap. But a leap that’s necessary,” stated Trout.
Trout envisions thousands of Puerto Rican flags waving but the time the crowd sits down it will be jeers and he envisions his hands raised at the end of the night. “I’m about to make history. We got the young gun going against the legend. The legend again is taking that risk to stay on top. This is a stacked division; we need to weed out those guys that claim to be on top.”
This won’t be an easy task. Last May, Cotto probably raised his own stock in a fight versus pound for pound King Floyd Mayweather, Jr. In defeat Cotto gave a great performance and some would say Floyd’s toughest fight since his fight with Jose Luis Castillo, which some had Mayweather losing. Trout’s not expecting any slouch in Cotto. “I’m going back to the Cotto that was smashing dudes at 140, the best Miguel Cotto. He’s a great fighter. He’s a hall of famer in my opinion. But this is my division. I don’t feel like Cotto’s stronger than me, He was the man at 147. At 154, I’m bigger, younger, and the faster guy. There was really no one else to fight so that why he went up to 154 to take that division, but he’s not taking it from me.”
Trout knows not to be a fool and underestimate the 3 division world title holder in Cotto. He feels this is the perfect fight for him to show the world who Austin Trout really is as a boxer. “The styles are going to mesh beautifully. Delvin (Rodriguez) was cautious and a bit gun shy. We worked on what made me not let go of the trigger, it was my balance. There’s no lackluster performance, I can’t have that performance against Cotto. When Yuri Foreman was hurt, he was catching Cotto, he (Cotto) was walking into rights. He (Cotto) can box. He’s not one dimensional, he can move, he can jab and box, so we’re going to prepare for the very best Cotto fight. We’ll look at both Margarito fights when he was boxing Margarito’s head off. I don’t feel like he can outbox me, he’s going to have a hard time with my jab. Whatever he wants to do, I’m not afraid of anything he’s going to bring.”
One might ask, might the moment be too big for Trout who until recently made his first appearance on Showtime Championship Boxing. No matter which network picks up the fight, plenty of people will be watching. “None of that fame and stuff will come to pass if I lose, so I just got to put in work. This is my chance; my motivation. I’ve been waiting for this moment my whole life, that’s the motivation to keep my focus high. It’s going to be hard to not over train because this fight gets no bigger.”
Trout was also in the running to land a shot with Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez on the big Mexican Independence Day Weekend coming up Saturday. He ultimately feels this is the bigger and better fight. “He’s (Canelo) a young cat but Cotto is battle tested. He’s got that experience you can’t fake. Cotto in my opinion is the harder, bigger fight. He’s got more than one dimension, Canelo fights just one way.”
To most fans, this is a high risk low reward type fight for Cotto, so people must figure that Al Haymon and Golden Boy must to put something real tasty for Cotto to accept the fight. Trout is just thankful for the opportunity. “To be honest I had no idea, Al had something up his sleeve. I wanted to fight in September to get in a fight December. I thought Al was working on Lara, not Cotto, unbelievable! He (Cotto) messed up and 2 losses in a row ain’t going to look good. I plan to beat him bad and make him look bad because you ain’t getting the decision in the Garden,” explained Trout.
That he knows because although he has family in Brooklyn and is of Panamanian decent, the Garden will be pro Cotto with native New Yorkers and Puerto Rican packing the house. So he’s prepared to go for the win with the knockout being his main option, and add that with Cotto never being in a bad fight, should make it a good night of boxing on December 1st.
For Full Audio of This Interview Click Here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thaboxingvoiceradioshow/2012/09/02/nazim-richardson-austin-trout-and-peter-quillin
