Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer has confirmed reports that he has Barclays Center on hold for a show on Sept. 28, and Miguel Cotto’s attorney and legal advisor, Gaby Penagaricano, has acknowledged that his client is considering the date for his return to the ring.

Coming off consecutive unanimous-decision losses to Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Austin Trout in May and December of last year, Cotto (37-4, 30 KOs), 32, will return to the ring “definitely this year,” according to Penagaricano.

“Of course we have communicated about it, but Miguel hasn’t decided if he is going to fight on that date [Sept. 28] or before or after. We’re working on that option and on several others. But in reality, I’m telling you the factual scenario, and that is that nothing has been decided. I’ve read Richard’s comments, and I’m sure that he has his arrangement with Barclays, and I’m sure that he has that date and many others on hold,” said Penagaricano.

“But the fact is that nothing is done and nothing has been decided by Miguel as to his next fight. … In fact, Miguel told me that whenever everything is agreed upon, that he’s going to announce it himself.”

A rematch with Mayweather is a possibility, though Schaefer has listed as his top priority a battle of RING and WBC champions between Mayweather and junior middleweight Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (42-0-1, 30 KOs) for Sept. 14.

Other considerations for Cotto might be the winner of a June 8 clash between hard-hitting 154-pound contender Alfredo Angulo (22-2, 18 KOs) and southpaw Erislandy Lara (17-1-2, 11 KOs), or that between IBF junior middleweight beltholder Ishe Smith (25-5, 11 KOs) and contender Carlos Molina (21-5-2, 6 KOs) that is slated for July 19.

Also, on July 27, two-time 147-pound beltholder and Andre Berto (28-2, 22 KOs) will face hard-charging Jesus Soto Karass.

“At the end, Miguel is the one who decides who he is going to fight, and, of course, in the coming months, there are several guys who are fighting that could be options,” said Penagaricano.

A resident of Caguas, Puerto Rico, Cotto’s last victory was in December of 2011 by 10th-round knockout over Antonio Margarito at New York’s Madison Square Garden

Cotto’s win over Margarito improved him to 7-0 with four knockouts at The Garden, where he is believed to have sold more tickets than any fighter overall, including Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Roberto Duran, “or anybody else,” according to Top Rank CEO Bob Arum, who promoted Cotto-Margarito II.

Cotto is immensely popular in the Big Apple, where his overall record of 9-1 includes four stoppage wins, counting a ninth-round knockout that dethroned Yuri Foreman as WBA beltholder at Yankee Stadium in June of 2010.

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

Austin Trout, L UD 12, Madison Square Garden, Dec. 1, 2012

CHAD DAWSON-ADONIS STEVENSON CARD TAKES SHAPE

The undercard has been completed for the HBO-televised June 8 event at Bell Centre in Montreal, to be headlined by RING and WBC light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson against hammer-fisted super middleweight contender Adonis “Superman” Stevenson in a clash of southpaws that is being co-promoted by Gary Shaw and Groupe Yvon Michel (GYM), the latter of whom handles Stevenson.

Dawson (31-2, 17 knockouts) was last in the ring for September’s 10th-round stoppage loss to RING super middleweight champ Andre Ward, who floored Dawson three times. Stevenson (20-1, 17 KOs) is coming off a sixth-round stoppage of Darnell Boone in March, wiith his seventh straight knockout win avenging a second-round stoppage loss to Boone in April of 2010.

In the co-feature, Colombia’s Darley Perez (28-0, 19 KOs) will face former featherweight titleholder Yuriorkis Gamboa (22-0, 16 KOs), a former Olympic gold medalist.

In his last fight in December on the undercard of Juan Manuel Marquez’s sixth-round knockout of Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas, Gamboa rose from a ninth-round knockdown after scoring two himself to secure a unanimous decision over Michael Farenas.

Yet another matchup boasts light heavyweight Eleider “Storm” Alvarez (12-0-0, 8 KOs), of Montreal, in pursuit of his fourth straight stoppage victory against former contender Allan Green (32-4-0, 22 KOs), whose seventh-round knockout of Renan St. Juste in November helped him to rebound from a fourth-round stoppage loss to Mikkel Kessler in May.

Also, power-punching middleweight David Lemieux (28-2-1, 27 KOs), of Montreal, will be after his fourth straight knockout win against Poland’s Robert Swierzbinski (11-1-0, 3 KOs), and Canadian heavyweights Didier “Big Daddy” Bence (8-0-0, 2 KOs) and Eric Barrack (7-0-0, 6 KOs) as well as as Canadian junior middleweights S├®bastien Bouchard (6-0-0, 2KO) and Mascouche Francesco Cotroni (7-1-0, 4 KOs).

In other matchups, former champion Artur Beterbiev will make his professional debut against light heavyweight Christian Cruz (12-14-1, 10 KOs), of Sacramento, and 2008 Puerto Rico Olympian Jose “Sniper” Pedraza (12-0-0, 8 KOs) will face a junior lightweight rival to be determined.

Photo by Chris Farina, Top Rank

Lem Satterfield can be reached at [email protected]