Four-division world champion and reigning WBC, Lineal and The Ring Middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (40-4, 33 KOs) reportedly said that he intends to retire from the sport sometime next year to fulfill a promise he made to his family.

"I'm doing it for the benefit of the community and my family," said Cotto. "I said once that I would retire before I was 30 and I'm 35 now, but I'm going to be in boxing no longer than a year from now."

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Cotto, arguably the best Puerto Rican boxer of all time, is set to defend his titles against Mexican youngster Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez (45-1-1, 32 KOs) on Nov. 21 at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas in a 12-round world title fight for the ages.

Boxing News 24 reported that Golden Boy Promotions boss Oscar De La Hoya disclosed the possibility of Cotto and Canelo fighting each other "three straight times" depending on how this first fight will work out in terms of earnings, and after that the 35-year-old will finally hang his gloves.

If everything will go according to their promoters' plans, then expect the two fighters to meet again sometime in April and again in September 2016 when fans would get to see Cotto fight inside the ring for the very last time.

Boxing News Online noted that Cotto remained "unflappable" in the face of impending retirement, saying that he is focused and treating the Canelo fight just like how he treated all of his previous matches.

"Fight number 45. Nothing special with it," Cotto said.

The US-born Puerto Rican is set to follow two of the most illustrious and greatest fighters of this era in retirement, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao, both of whom he gallantly fought, although the latter allegedly still has one more fight left in April before he's done.

Cotto, now trained by Pacquiao's coach Freddie Roach, has found a new lease on life in his career during his last three matches with the seven-time Boxing Writers Association of America Trainer of the Year winner, all of whom ended up in victories.

With three consecutive victories under Roach's watch, a lot of people thought that he would stay in boxing longer as the successes rack up.

TagsBoxing, Boxing 2015, Boxing News, Boxing News 2015, Boxing Rumors, Boxing Rumors 2015, Boxing News & Rumors, Boxing News & Rumors 2015, Miguel Cotto, canelo alvarez, Miguel Cotto vs Canelo Alvarez, Saul Alvarez, freddie roach