Miguel Cotto‘s legal advisor, Gaby Penagaricano, calls the three-division titlewinner “a free agent” even as he has realigned with Top Rank for his next fight after having fought his past two bouts under the banner of Golden Boy Promotions.

“I don’t want to say that Miguel left Golden Boy,” said Penagaricano. “As you know, Miguel’s been a free agent for the last couple of years. We just have an alliance with them, and Miguel was fighting with their help, but he is a free agent, and that is the situation still today. He still is a free agent, and he’s choosing to work, for this next fight, with Top Rank, also as a free agent.”

“It’s all positive, nothing negative to say about Golden Boy. They remain, as always, friends. Hopefully, we can do business with them and other promoters in the future, absolutely. Excellent relationship, nothing negative whatsoever. Miguel is very thankful. It was great working with them twice as we did together, and no one is discounting working with them again. It’s all been very, very positive.”

Cotto’s last two fights were losses to Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Austin Trout in May and December of last year, respectively. His last victory was in December of 2011 by 10th-round knockout over Antonio Margarito.

For his next fight, Cotto (37-4, 30 knockouts) will be trained by Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach, who was in the opposite corner for Cotto’s 12th-round knockout loss to Manny Pacquiao in November of 2009. Cotto was trained by Pedro Diaz in his past three bouts.

“We’ve known Freddie for years, obviously, and he has been a friend, and we have seen each other at the different fights, constantly,” said Penagaricano.

“So Miguel decided that he wanted a fresh trainer, and we made the approach. It was actually great. Freddie liked the idea very much, and he said that it would be an honor for him to train Miguel, and that’s it. It’s very simple.”

Various reports have cited Delvin Rodriguez (28-6-3, 16 KOs) as the leading candidate to face Cotto, having won two straight by knockout since falling by unanimous decision to Trout in June of 2012.

“Delvin is being considered together with several other options, so I’m working on that as we speak,” said Penagaricano. “Because it’s an ongoing process right now about the opponent, I’d rather not speak too much about it.”

Penagaricano listed Marlins Stadium in Miami and the Amway Center in Orlando as possible venues for the bout.

Photo by Chris Farina, Top Rank

Lem Satterfield can be reached at [email protected]