Mayweather-Cotto headed to HBO Pay Per View

Floyd Mayweather Jr. will challenge WBA junior middleweight titleholder Miguel Cotto on HBO Pay Per View from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on May 5, the network announced on Thursday.

"We're thrilled that Floyd Mayweather’s fight with Miguel Cotto will be presented by HBO Pay-Per-View," said Ken Hershman, president of HBO Sports in a statement. "We look forward to working with Floyd, Miguel, Mayweather Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions on this special event."

Mayweather-Cotto will headline an under card that will also feature WBC 154-pound beltholder Saul "Canelo" Alvarez defending his belt against Sugar Shane Mosley

Mayweather has fought nine of his past 10 fights on HBO Pay Per View, including his last eight bouts and, most recently, his fourth-round knockout victory that dethroned Victor Ortiz as WBC welterweight titleholder in September.

Mosley, however, fought for the first time on rival Showtime Pay Per View in his last fight, a unanimous decision loss to WBO welterweight beltholder, Manny Pacquiao, in May.

Losing Pacquiao-Mosley to Showtime played a role in the departure of former HBO President of Sports, Ross Greenburg, who announced his resignation in July after having been at the helm since September of 2000.

Hershman left a similar position at Showtime to be installed as Greenburg's replacement, taking over in early January.

In the main event, Mayweather (42-0, 26 knockouts), who turns 35 on Feb. 24, will pursue his eighth title belt over five weight classes against Cotto (37-2, 30 KOs).

Cotto, 31, who beat Mosley by close unanimous in November of 2007, has won three straight fights, all by knockout, and will be making the third defense of his belt.

Alvarez (39-0-1, 29 KOs), who is 21, is nearly half the age of Mosley (46-7-1, 39 KOs), who turned 40 in September.

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Lem Satterfield can be reached at lemuel.satterfield@gmail.com