Future Hall of Famer Miguel Cotto leaving boxing on his terms with New York title fight

Miguel Cotto is a boxing icon in Puerto Rico. In New York City, too.

On Saturday night, the most popular boxer of his generation from the Caribbean island that has produced so many champions will finish off his terrific career at Madison Square Garden with – what else? – a title fight.

Cotto has fought nine times in what New Yorkers like to call “the mecca of boxing,” and every one of those bouts was a main event. He has won the night before the Puerto Rico Day parade in Manhattan, when thousands of his fans who attended the fight then celebrated the holiday.

He has won in Yankee Stadium, too, and at Barclays Centre and the Hammerstein Ballroom. Indeed, Cotto has fought 11 times in Puerto Rico and 12 times within the five boroughs of New York.

So when he bids farewell to the ring at age 37 when he defends his WBO super-welterweight crown against Sadam Ali, the setting will be so appropriate.

“It’s been a pleasure for me to try to entertain you guys for 17 years,” Cotto said. “I have done my best at every opportunity for the benefit of my family. They mean everything to me and I am so proud of them and they are so proud of me.