Among the current champions from Puerto Rico are WBO jr middleweight champion Daniel Santos and WBO strawweight champion Ivan Calderon.

But the most popular and highly regarded fighter is WBO super lightweight champion Miguel Angel Cotto.

At the tender age of 24, he has already beaten three former world champions and over half-dozen contenders.

“There’s something special about Miguel,” commented Bob Arum, his promoter. “We really and truly believe he will be a superstar. He is a great body puncher. Not good, great. He has a relentless style. He always presses the attack, but he has enough movement to avoid punches. It’s not like he comes straight at you. He has power, intelligence and ring smarts.”

According to man-on-the-street and the boxing critic at ringside, Cotto is the next big star to come out of Puerto Rico.

Therefore it is only fitting that Cotto has the opportunity to seek his revenge on the last man to beat him in the squared ring on the eve of the Puerto Rican Day Parade.

On Saturday, June 11th, the 24-year-old native of Caguas, Puerto Rico makes his Madison Square Garden debut against contender Mohamad Abdullaev.

Cotto lost a very controversial decision to Abdullaev in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. Abdullaev, who represented Uzbekistan, went on to win the gold medal.

Cotto finished his amateur career with a 95-23 record but he could not forgot Abdullaev and the gold medal that was almost his to take home to the boxing crazy nation of Puerto Rico.

A lot has changed since Cotto and Abdullaev contested in the amateur ranks.

Today, Miguel Cotto sports an undefeated record and has a championship belt. Cotto earned his title by knocking out Kelson Pinto in September 2004. Pinto, then an undefeated prospect with a 20-0 record, was knocked down in the 2nd, 5th and 6th round. The referee mercifully stopped the action in the sixth round and Cotto was awarded the vacant WBO light welterweight championship.

Coincidentally, Pinto also bested Cotto in the amateurs.

As with the Pinto, forget the past when Cotto faces Abdullaev.

In what will be Cotto’s third defense of his WBO title, he again faces Abdullaev who now stands at 15-1, with his only pro loss coming to Emmanuel Clottey two tears ago. Abdullaev has won his last four fights, three of them by way of knockout.

We can’t go back and change the past, which is why Abdullaev is an important part of the legacy that Cotto is establishing. Nothing can change the history that Cotto lost to Abdullaev five years ago but on Saturday he can show why he should have won that controversial decision in the amateurs.

It is a fight that has revenge written all over it although Cotto thinks otherwise. Cotto downplays the grudge factor, stating: “I can’t think of it as personal. I’m a professional. I have a job to do. The Olympic chapter is over. Now it’s time for a new chapter.”

But Abdullaev believes there is a lot to learn from rereading the previous chapter of their meeting. Abdullaev is studying the tape of their 2000 encounter as part of his training and has professed that the blueprint to beat Cotto is shown in that first encounter.

Cotto disagrees with that strategy and responded: “I know that might be what he is looking for on June 11th but he should be looking at something else. He will be in for a rude awakening if he thinks he’s going to be fighting that same 19-year-old in Australia five years ago.”