Clottey prepared for Cotto — and crowd

NEW YORK (AP) — Joshua Clottey will walk into sold-out Madison Square Garden on Saturday night, just a few miles from where the Ghana native now makes his home in the Bronx, and almost certainly face a wall of vocal opposition.

It’ll be the eve of the annual Puerto Rican Day parade, and thousands of flag-carrying fans will turn out to see charismatic welterweight champion Miguel Cotto defend his title.

Clottey, himself a former champion, insists he won’t hear any of it.

“Trust me, when I come to the ring I’m a very, very deaf guy,” Clottey said. “The only thing I do is I see people, but I don’t hear what they’re talking about. This is business, we’re in the ring. He’s hitting my body, he’s hitting my head — I don’t have time for that.”

Cotto certainly brings the name recognition to the WBO title fight, and he’s the big reason that even the cheap seats will be gone at the Garden. HBO is expecting a huge television audience, and even New York sports stars like Mets outfielder Carlos Beltran are trying to secure tickets.

“I keep hearing boxing is dead, boxing is dying — I’ve always been incredulous, because I don’t know what anybody is talking about,” Top Rank boss Bob Arum said. “Just look at this.”

Top Rank has turned the Puerto Rican Day weekend into Cotto’s showcase, and the popular fighter has embraced it every bit as much as his fans.

His first fight in boxing’s so-called Mecca, when Cotto (33-1, 27 KOs) was just beginning to build his reputation, was a knockout of Mohamad Abdulaev. He’s gone on to beat Brooklyn-based fighters Paul Malignaggi and Zab Judah before delirious crowds that show up to the Garden en masse to see their hero sometimes just once a year.

“Joshua Clottey? I’ve prepared myself for anything he can bring that night,” Cotto said Wednesday. “The question is, is he prepared for the kind of Miguel Cotto that’s going to climb into the ring?”

A native of Accra, the capital and most populous city of the west African nation of Ghana, Clottey began fighting in small shows in Africa. He caught the eye of promoter Panos Eliades, who also promoted Lennox Lewis, and Clottey wound up fighting in Europe for several years.

His bout against Cotto was supposed to be a unification fight, Clottey having won the IBF title, but politics and sanctioning bodies got in the way.