This year, mainly because Cotto is headlining the return of boxing at Yankee Stadium on Saturday June 5^th the Garden will not be hosting a Cotto party the night before the parade. Instead the spotlight turns to the relatively unknown Ivan “Iron Boy” Calderon the WBO junior flyweight champion.

Calderon (33-0-1) from Baymon Puerto Rico defends against Jesus “Azul” Irbe (17-6-4, 10KO’s) of Culican Sinaloa Mexico, not in the main arena but at the adjacent Garden Theatre.  Not the main stage for Calderon, also a fight not televised on HBO, as Top Rank will stage the broadcast on FSN and Fox Sports Espanol.

It does not bother Calderon, a 35-year old champion that he is not on the HBO network. Not does it matter that he will be showing his talents before 5,000 or so fans instead of the 16,000 plus that would pack the Garden main arena.

Cotto has had his time. And many believe if he fails to defeat Foreman, the WBA Super Welterweight champion, then his career is just about over when it comes to significant title opportunities. Calderon has never caught on with the Latino boxing fan, here or in Puerto Rico. Cotto may have lost some of his popularity after a mediocre loss to welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao back in December.

And the retired former champion, Felix Trinidad, is still a hero in Puerto Rico according to many, and so says Calderon. “He is boxing to so many of us,” said Calderon referring to Trinidad at a New York press conference last week to announce his title defense that will include an under card of many Top Rank Latino prospects.

“I’m a little more popular because of my personality,” added Calderon who made reference as to how Cotto has turned off the light switch with his personality of not being as receptive as he once was. There have been highly publicized incidents of Cotto having conflicts with his management team, including a fist fight at a boxing gym in Puerto Rico with uncle and former trainer Evangilista

Then there was Cotto putting aside trainer Joe Santiago, and using the services of highly acclaimed trainer Emanuel Steward for the Foreman fight next month. Calderon, though, still offers his respect to Cotto, a one-time stable mate when they both started under manager Pete Rivera.

“The fact I am smaller is why my popularity is not as huge,” says Calderon who reigns in a division that gets little or no notoriety. “I always said Miguel Cotto helped me. Where he is, is where I want to be,” says the 2000 Olympic representative for Puerto Rico at 106 pounds.

Calderon is a nine-year professional and 17-0-1 with 2 KO’s in world championship fights. Cotto may or may not be at the Garden for his fight though there are reports he will remain in New York City a week after his fight in the Bronx and attend parade festivities the next day

“You can never be jealous of your people,” said Calderon when asked if there was any resentment towards Cotto.  The two fighters hardly speak after the split with Rivera. “But the one who made Miguel Cotto is Peter Rivera,” he says.

That alone says there is some type of animosity with Cotto and Calderon. And sources say some harsh words have been traded with the two. Calderon would not comment about what has been said, but in reality it does not matter.

Because you can never compare the boxing styles of the two fighters as Cotto and Calderon are so far away in weight. And of course Cotto has been involved in wars, in the ring with high profiled names such as Pacquio and Shane Mosley. Cotto has made more money and has never avoided a challenge.

The important thing now is Calderon taking the spotlight, at the Garden and he expects to prevail.

THROWING THE PUNCHES:  Enough is enough with the foul mouth coming from heavyweight Chris Arrelo (29-2, 2KO’s), the Mexican native residing in Escondido California.  Once again, in the ring after a 12-round IFF International title opportunity loss to Tomasz Adamek he used obscenities on the HBO televised broadcast that were not deleted.

And the words were loud and clear when he answered the post fight questions of ringside analyst Max Kellerman.  “That Mother ****** was tough…He was the better Mother ****** tonight,” said the foul mouth heavyweight who has done this time and time again on HBO.

The HBO broadcast team, Bob Papa and former champion Lennox Lewis stayed quiet and failed to offer a proper apology to viewers. It was another bad thing for the credibility of boxing, and most of all shame to HBO for once again failing to cut the mike or to tell Arrelo to watch his mouth.  The good thing is we wont be seeing or hearing much more of the “Foul Mouth” as this loss pretty much damages Arrelo’s credibility in the ring as well…

And farewell to John Ruiz, the first and only heavyweight world champion of Latino heritage who announced his retirement Monday after a ring career of 18 years.  Known as “The Quietman”, Ruiz (44-9-1, 30KO’s) was a two-time champion who defeated three world champions, Evander Holyfield, Hasim Rahman and Tiny Tucker  His of his career losses were against world champions.

Ruiz held the WBA title twice, but his mark on the division was never considered legitimate because the division is filled with alphabet soup titles and mediocrity. And Ruiz was never once to excite a crowd with his boring style, and hugging one or more opponent for 12-rounds instead of trading punches.

e-mail Rich Mancuso: Ring 786@aol.com

It is one of those intriguing fights that could go either way and much of the speculation is how Cotto has adjusted to his new trainer, Joe Santiago. The challenger Clottey is set to confront a pro Cotto crowd at the Garden that will be sold out and the question is, will he be able to take an onslaught of Cotto punches to the body?

Cotto was very quiet and recently not offering much comment about his headlining a boxing card at the Garden for the fourth time in five years on the eve of New York’s National Puerto Rican Day Parade.  He focused and trained hard with Santiago down in Tampa Florida.

And until Wednesday, when the two fighters appeared at a final news conference at the Garden, Cotto had not said much There, were no Clottey appearances in the Bronx, where he now resides coming from his native Ghana while Cotto, the native of Caguas Puerto Rico, greeted the public twice in the past week at a Puerto Rican festival in the south Bronx and at a local AT&T store.

I love the people here,” said Cotto about greeting the vastly popular Puerto Rican community in the Bronx.  The fighter has become their ambassador in and out of the ring though in Puerto Rico they say former four-time champion Felix Trinidad still has the popularity.

Clottey who is finally getting his opportunity, and a long awaited championship bout at the Garden, has also been quiet since their initial press conference a few months ago. The fight televised on HBO Sports is also not on pay-per-view. Cotto wants his fans to see him without paying the $50.00 going rate for boxing PPV bouts.

And this, the words from promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank, who promotes both Cotto and Clottey tells the story about Cotto and New York City. “Cotto has returned home,” he said with a gleaming smile.  The truth is Cotto hopes to return home to Puerto Rico with two thirds of the welterweight championship.

And Clottey, (35-2, 21KO’s) wants the public to finally know what he is about/and respects the opportunity that Cotto granted him. “Cotto is giving me an opportunity and I respect him for that,” said Clottey.  “They make him the favorite. Favorites don’t judge the fights. That’s their opinion.”

But Cotto is the favorite in just about every fight. Except this time Clottey is getting the accolades and a majority of boxing media are looking at Cotto heading to another defeat. Distractions prior to training camp, Cotto and an altercation with uncle and former longtime trainer Evangelista, and an ugly loss to Antonio Margarito that resulted in a WBA title loss may be the reason.

Cotto has put that all on the past, won’t discuss the previous problems and as Santiago said, “All of my work will show in the ring Saturday night.”  A different strategy or approach, perhaps going for a quick knockout could be what we see.

In line for Cotto, assuming he wins could be a return bout with Margarito who is under suspension for using tainted hand wraps under his gloves when Margarito lost the WBA welterweight title to Shane Mosley last year. The speculation is that the same wraps were used when Margaritio defeated Cotto by TKO last July in Las Vegas.

Or Cotto could at 140, challenge Manny Pacquiao, considered the best pound-for-pound fighter by the experts.  Pacquiao will be attending the fight at ringside and a Cotto-Pacquiao fight can be a marketing bonanza for Arum who also promotes Pacquiao.

To the controversy that has surrounded Cotto and for future fights he says, “I am at peace with myself.”  He leaves his future options to Arum and part of his reason as to avoiding questions from the media also stemmed from rumors that he has been seeking a way to break his contract with Top Rank that runs through next year.

On Margaritio, Cotto said “If we put everything together I will make a deal.” And he is open to a Pacquiao fight or any of the other top fighters in the welterweight division including Floyd Mayweather Jr. the former champion who recently came out of a brief retirement.

“I can’t talk about something I don’t know,” says Cotto about the Margarito incident that left him battered in the ring after 11 rounds. “I respect him though,” he said. Though the talk was Cotto became very angry and aggravated that Arum, who also promotes Margarito, played two sides perhaps a reason why Cotto wanted out of his Top Rank commitment. .

“I am not looking ahead, I never do.  I never say no to anyone. I am here for the new fighters and the real fighters. The welterweight division is real and good for boxing. On Saturday we are going to leave everything in the ring and we are going to win.”

Cotto has never lost a fight at the Garden since his debut there in 2005 and has sold more tickets than any other fighter at the Mecca of Boxing this millennium. And if were up to Cotto he would prefer all of his fights take place in New York at the famed Garden arena.

But Clottey, even with all of his respect for Cotto has his own agenda. “Guys don’t want to fight me and I thank Miguel for giving me the chance,” he said.   If I hit him then he has a lot of problem and if I hit him and he is still standing then I have problems,”

Cotto (33-1, 27KO’s) is a three-time champion in two different divisions and Clottey  had his biggest career victory, a 10-round technical decision over former three-time world champion Zab Judah  August 2  of  last year..

In addition Clottey, an aggressive puncher with power is on a two-year five-bout winning streak. He also has wins over the late Diego Corrales the two division champion, undefeated contender Shamone Alvarez and two-time world title challenger Felix Flores.

But all of that won’t matter when they touch gloves around 10:30 Saturday evening.  The pick here is Clottey by TKO in round 11.