Puerto Rican boxer Miguel Cotto targeted in sexual harassment lawsuit by former employee

Lawsuit accuses Miguel Cotto of sexual harassment

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A former employee of Miguel Cotto filed a sexual harassment lawsuit seeking more than $500,000 from Puerto Rico’s most popular boxer.

The lawsuit by Martha Chacon Acevedo argues that Cotto made unwanted romantic advances when she worked as an administrator of a residential property owned by the fighter in this U.S. Caribbean territory.

It says Chacon, a Venezuelan, gave in to Cotto’s advances over two months out of fear of losing her job, and was fired in October 2008 after breaking off the relationship.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. district court in San Juan on Aug. 24. It was not reported until this week when Cotto’s family released a statement dismissing it as “frivolous, empty and a total fabrication.”

“We are going to leave everything in our lawyers’ hands and everything will be resolved in court,” Miguel Cotto Carrasquillo, the fighter’s father, said in a written statement late Monday.

Cotto lost the WBO welterweight crown to Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas last month when the referee stopped the fight in the 12th round.