It all comes down to this

NEW YORK -- Miguel Cotto’s building process is complete. He’s 27, unbeaten and ready to cash in on his stature as the World Boxing Assn. welterweight champion.

Orchestrated by his veteran promoter Bob Arum, Cotto has knocked out 25 of 30 opponents on a steady career path that parallels the one perfected by Oscar De La Hoya -- a slow and steady series of challenges that accounts for a learning curve but aims for a legendary night.

Tonight is that evening for Cotto, who will fight Pomona’s “Sugar” Shane Mosley at Madison Square Garden. Mosley has won world championship belts as a lightweight, welterweight and light-middleweight.

He’s also 36 years old, hasn’t knocked out anyone except Fernando Vargas since 2001, and now finds himself in his 50th fight, counting a no-decision.

“Throughout boxing history, there’s always been battles between the young lion and the old lion,” Arum said. “If the young lion is well-schooled, he wins. That’s the law of nature and boxing.”

Both Cotto and Mosley weighed in Friday at 146 1/4 pounds, and each will be paid $2.75 million for the fight, according to the New York State Athletic Commission.

After watching Cotto’s grit in a hard-fought 11th-round technical knockout victory over veteran former champion Zab Judah in June, Arum said he consulted his veteran Top Rank matchmaker Bruce Trampler before finalizing the deal with Mosley’s promoter, Richard Schaefer.

“Tough fight, but the kind Miguel should win,” Trampler told Arum.

Said Arum: “It’s not without risk, but this is the fight that will establish him. I know what will sell, and I know the benefit of beating Mosley.”

For Cotto the benefits are future big-money fights, and the names Floyd Mayweather Jr. and his December opponent, Ricky Hatton, come to mind.

Years ago, De La Hoya found himself in a similar spot: unbeaten but without having beaten any name opponent. Arum directed his star to marquee fights against Julio Cesar Chavez and Pernell Whitaker, and the Golden Boy’s Olympic-built fame was amplified to stratospheric.

“It’s a lot of pressure, not only focusing on your opponent, but thinking, ‘If I win, I go to the next level,’ or, ‘If I lose, what will happen?’ ” De La Hoya said this week.

Cotto must be sharp to win. Mosley is scheming to re-stake his claim as one of the world’s best pound-for-pound fighters seven years after beating De La Hoya for the first time (Mosley also won the rematch). Mosley is taller than Cotto, has a longer reach and is excited to flash his old speed and power with small 8-ounce gloves.

A day after the Cotto-Mosley fight was announced, Mosley’s father and trainer, Jack Mosley, panned Cotto’s promise.

“Who’s he fought?” the elder Mosley asked. Elaborating this month, Jack Mosley said, “Certainly, Cotto is not faster than Shane.

“I don’t know what Bob Arum was thinking. Well, he’s thinking about Shane’s age, but that’s not going to work.”

Cotto, however, is a devastating body puncher who sent two sparring partners in his native Puerto Rico to the hospital in preparation for Mosley. He is a slight favorite because of his youth, his fortitude in winning despite suffering cuts and knockdowns, and his penchant for punishing opponents.

“Miguel’s not a demolition one-punch fighter,” said Miguel Diaz, Cotto’s assistant trainer and cut man. “He works on you, and the effect comes three or four rounds later.

“He’s also become a cheaper fighter, meaning he’s throwing more punches that connect.”

Says Arum: “Age in boxing takes its toll, and after all these bouts, a good skilled boxer like Cotto will make Mosley pay.”

Unlike De La Hoya, Cotto’s charisma is lacking, if not absent.

Top Rank President Todd duBoef tells a story about Cotto struggling to learn English a few years ago while training at the Top Rank gym in Las Vegas. The workout schedule inside that gym coincided with Mayweather Jr.’s, whose flamboyance proved overwhelming.

“Miguel was too shy to tell me, but he hated it,” duBoef said. “It was too crazy in there. He didn’t want to be around that environment.”

Arum said during a press tour through Los Angeles in September, “A lot of you don’t know Miguel Cotto. Most of his fights have been in Puerto Rico and the East Coast.”

To boxing fans, however, the most magnetic personality can be the one who most often devastates his opposition.

In his first year as a pro, Cotto once hit opponent Arturo Rodriguez so hard it spun him. He has also effectively ended fighters’ careers, including Mohamad Abdulaev in 2005.

“I just go to the gym and do work the best I can,” Cotto said. “I’m just a boxer. I know the most important thing for me is staying undefeated. If you do these things, the fans support you and scream your name.

“I’m going to retain my title. It’s my time now.”

Cotto represented Puerto Rico in the 2000 Olympics and was dismissed in the first round of competition, but he has built a loyal following among his countrymen since. They helped fill Madison Square Garden in June when he defeated the speedy southpaw Judah.

“I’m going to climb in there as the strongest, fittest fighter, and I’ll try to pressure [Mosley] every moment of the fight,” Cotto said. “He can’t be stronger than me, and even if he hurts me, I have the courage to overcome the situation.

“People will see what I’m made of.”

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lance.pugmire@latimes.com

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

FIGHT FACTS

Miguel Cotto (30-0, 25 KOs)

vs. Shane Mosley (44-4, 37 KOs)

* What: WBA welterweight championship bout.

* When: Tonight, 6 PST (pay per view).

* Where: Madison Square Garden, New York.

* Undercard: Antonio Margarito vs. Golden Johnson (WBO Intercontinental welterweight title); Joel Casamayor vs. Jose Armando Santa-Cruz (WBC interim lightweight title); Victor Ortiz vs. Carlos Maussa (welterweights).