livefight.co.uk

"El Nuevo Dia" has reported that undefeated welterweight Carlos "El Indio" Quintana (23-0, 18KO) has now rejected a second offer made by Top Rank to step aside and allow fellow unbeaten Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto to contend for a vacant welterweight belt later this year.

Top Rank's plan was to have Quintana temporarily relinquish his #2 ranking with the WBA, which would allow Cotto to step in and face #1 contender Oktay Urkal for the title soon to be vacated by Ricky Hatton. Quintana was to be financially compensated in the form of a step-aside fee, as well as be guaranteed a shot at the winner of the fight sometime next year.

Quintana, however, is only interested in doing one of two things: fight for the title, or fight Cotto. He and his handlers would prefer the latter.

"If (Top Rank) is so interested in finding an opponent for Cotto on December 2, they don't need to look any further than Moca," says Rene Jean, Quintana's co-manager. Moca would be Quintana's hometown in Puerto Rico, approximately two hours from Caguas, where Cotto presently lives and trains.

Quintana earned the #2 ranking in the WBA by soundly outpointing previously unbeaten prospect Joel Julio this past June in Las Vegas. Quintana suffered a knockdown in the opening round, but dusted himself off and put on a clinic from that point thereafter.

Interestingly enough, both Cotto and Margarito are in need of opponents for their December doubleheader, to be aired by Showtime. Interesting, because Quintana was rumored as a potential opponent for Margarito just last month. Bob Arum was looking to set up an October PPV event, but stopped mentioned Quintana the moment HBO pulled the PPV date from Arum for failure to finalize a concrete main event.

Top Rank secured the December dates for Cotto and Margarito, but suddenly stopped mentioning Quintana, other than hoping he'd step aside for said date.

Interesting