Q&A: Trout ready to fight Cotto in 'hostile waters'

Austin Trout says facing Miguel Cotto in his partisan New York won't affect him: "The crowd has never had an effect on me. If anything, what it has done is given the motivation and it has made me want to make them shut up."

RingTV.com spoke to Austin Trout at his training facility in Ruidoso, New Mexico, in advance of his Showtime-televised junior middleweight defense of his WBA "regular" title against Miguel Cotto on Dec. 1 at New York's Madison Square Garden.

Showtime's documentary All Access: Cotto vs. Trout has chronicled the lives of both Cotto (37-3, 30 knockouts) and Trout (25-0, 14 KOs) as they prepare for their clash in New York, where the Puerto Rican challenger has never lost and is an overwhelming favorite among local fans.

Episode 2 of All Access airs at 9:38 ET on Saturday.

Click here for the video of All Access.

On Saturday, starting at at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, FOX Deportes will broadcast Trout's unanimous decision victory over Rigoburto Alvarez in February of last year for his current belt before Alvarez's partisan fans at the Arena Colseo in Guadalajara, Mexico.

The then-34-year-old brother of WBC titleholder, Saul "Canelo" Alvarez, Rigoburto was after his fourth straight victory and his third knockout during that run against Trout.

Following the Trout-Alvarez broadcast, FOX will show Cotto's unanimous decision victory over Shane Mosley that occurred at Madison Square Garden in November of 2007 in defense of Cotto's WBA 147-pound crown.

Cotto is 7-0 with four knockouts at The Garden, where he stopped Antonio Margarito in the 10th round in December of last year to avenge the first loss of his career, an 11th-round knockout in July of 2008.

He is 9-0 with five stoppage wins overall in New York, and has decisioned former world titleholders Mosley, Joshua Clottey and Paulie Malignaggi, and knocked out Zab Judah, all at The Garden.

But Trout, 27, says fighting in hostile territory doesn't bother him, and will only make him more motivated against Cotto, 32, who is coming off a unanimous-decision loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in May.

The loss to Mayweather ended a three-fight knockout and winning streak by Cotto, whose previous setback had come via 12th-round stoppage opposite Manny Pacquiao in November of 2009.

RingTV.com: How is your training going?

Austin Trout: I'm in Ruidoso, New Mexico. I'm doing real good. Today is my last sparring session. We've gone 12 rounds numerous times, but we're just going to go six today to sharpen up just a little bit more.


RingTV.com: Who have your sparring partners been?

AT: We've had DonYil Livingston, Lenardo Tyner and we have Hector Munoz out here. DonYil, he can box a little bit more, like Cotto has been moving a bit.

Lenardo is a come-forward brawler, and Hector, he's big pressure fighter, so we've had a lot of different looks for Cotto.

 

RingTV.com: How is has the intensity of the increased media during this promotion any different for you and for your family from your past fights?

AT: You, now, it's not adding any pressure. It's been cool. I've been enjoying it. It's been a lot of fun. All of the media attention has been fun.

Seeing myself on an All-Access show, it's been awesome. It's been getting me pumped to live through what I've been waiting all my life to live through.

 

RingTV.com: What role has your faith and spirituality played in your life and career?

AT: I consider myself a spiritual person. I wouldn't say religious. I rely on a good relationship with God through Jesus Christ. It's all on my faith. I know that God has plans for me.

I feel that he's brought me along a path that's taken me this far. I don't believe that he's brought me this far for failure. So, my faith is everything. I believe in it, and I believe that I can achieve it through God.

 

RingTV.com: What are the names of your children and your fiancee, who are introduced in the All Access segment?

AT: Kaira, and she's 10. My is Elijah, and he's 5. Then there's my daughter, Charlotte, like the city, and she's 2. My fiancee is Taylor. We're getting married on April 20.

 

RingTV.com: What is your mentality heading into fight week?

AT: As you get closer, it's more business. We haven't lost focus at all from the past weeks. It's something that I've been thinking about in the back of my mind all of the time.

Now, it's something that's in the forefront of my mind all of the time. If that makes any sense. Where, before, it was in the back of my mind, now it's my complete focus in the front of my mind. Now, it's definitely in the front.

 

RingTV.com: How will your experience fighting Rigoburto Alvarez in hostile territory prepare you for facing Cotto before what will undoubtedly be fans who heavily favor him?

AT: You know, whether the crowd ends up cheering for me in the end or not, that part of it doesn't matter. But what does matter is that I use the negative energy that the crowd is giving me as added motivation to fight harder.

I have felt like every time that I've been in hostile territory or hostile waters, the crowd has never had an effect on me. If anything, what it has done is given the motivation and it has made me want to make them shut up.

That's no offense to any of the Puerto Rican fans. But it's like I told them when were in Puerto Rico for the press conference, it's been passion that has been keeping boxing alive.

So, as a fighter, and as a fan of the sport, I appreciate their passion. But I'm going to be in the ring using anything that they give me, whether it's positive or it's negative, to motivate me to do better.

 

MIGUEL COTTO'S FIGHTS IN NEW YORK:

Waklimi Young, UD 4, Hammerstein Ballroom, April 28, 2001

Muhammad Abdulaev, TKO 9, Madison Square Garden, June 11, 2005

Paulie Malignaggi, UD 12, Madison Square Garden, June 10, 2006

Zab Judah, TKO 11, Madison Square Garden, June 9, 2007

Shane Mosley, UD 12, Madison Square Garden, Nov. 10, 2007

Michael Jennings, TKO 5, Madison Square Garden, February 21, 2009

Joshua Clottey, SD 12, Madison Square Garden, June 13, 2009

Yuri Foreman, TKO 9, Yankee Stadium, June 5, 2010

Antonio Margarito, TKO 10, Madison Square Garden, Dec. 3, 2011

 

Photo by Naoki Fukuda

Photo by Chris Farina, Top Rank Inc.

Photo by Tom Casino, Showtime

Photo by Chris Cozzone, Fightwireimages.com

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