Cotto hits Mayweather during their WBA super welterweight title fight on May 5. Can you spot the OU tattoo? Image by Getty Images

While Puerto Rican boxer Miguel Cotto’s fight against Floyd Mayweather, Jr. this past weekend in Las Vegas was clearly fair (Cotto lost in a unanimous decision), Rabbi Jason Miller is questioning whether it was completely kosher.

Actually, the rabbi was concerned not about what went on in the ring, but rather about what Cotto was wearing in it. Cotto has been sporting an Orthodox Union kosher symbol (a circle with the letter “U” in the middle, often pronounced as O-U) tattoo for some years now. He apparently got it as a tribute to a Jewish friend.

Miller has no problem with the sentiment, but he is wondering whether there could be legal ramifications for the boxer’s wearing the hekhsher.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

“Sue Fishkoff reported in her book ‘Kosher Nation,’ [that] the OU employs a large legal department whose mission is to locate violations of usage of the OU symbol anywhere in the world, issue a cease and desist order, and file a suit if there’s no compliance,” Miller wrote on his blog yesterday.

Miller went on to explain that the Orthodox Union usually goes after either companies that knowingly use the trademarked symbol, even though their product has not been properly supervised and certified, or businesses that accidentally create and use their own symbol that too closely resembles the OU’s.

But even for Jewish consumers consumed with boxing, there is little chance that Cotto’s tattoo would mislead them about what is proper or not to buy at the supermarket. Although the Shmooze enjoyed Rabbi Miller’s legal briefing, we’re happy to let Cotto dance like a butterfly in his boxing briefs — and his hekhsher tattoo, as well. We appreciate the sign of solidarity with the tribe, and it all seems pretty kosher to us.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’re near the end of our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we have a very ambitious goal of $127,000 by April 21.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Make a Passover Gift Today!

$90 $180

$360

Other amount