By Lyle Fitzsimmons

Let’s say you’re Miguel Cotto.

And you’re such a fixture on Puerto Rican Day parade weekend in New York City that 20,000 people would gladly drop a couple hundred bucks to watch you go a few rounds with Bill de Blasio.

So why, when the Hall of Fame is a virtual certainty five years after your swan song, would you ever consider tangling with a middleweight wrecking machine like Gennady Golovkin?

Here’s the short answer: You wouldn’t (and you shouldn’t).

And absolutely nothing you saw Saturday afternoon on HBO ought to change your mind.

As Jim Lampley, Roy Jones Jr. and Max Kellerman presciently pointed out from their ringside seats in Monaco – it was going to take an undeniable sign of weakness from Golovkin against Martin Murray to make any high-profile commodity think twice about stepping in with a guy who’s not heard a final bell since 2008 and has ground an increasingly higher grade of middleweight meat into bloody chuck.

Didn’t happen.

Though the Kazakh saw a scantily-clad lass slink past his corner bearing a No. 11 ring card for the very first time, the fact that a preposterously gutty – but clearly outgunned – Murray got his rescue later rather than earlier one does nothing to dampen the momentum with which Golovkin arrived.

In fact, it’s only gotten stronger.

Though the fifth-ranked Englishman was able to take more physical abuse before folding than predecessors Daniel Geale and Marco Antonio Rubio, it wasn’t as if his endurance warranted conclusions that the dual-belted champion was shirking his violent title-defending responsibilities.

In fact, Golovkin still landed jarring shots to the body and head, still forced his man into the areas of the ring where he wanted him and still scored a full complement of knockdowns – three, this time – while winning all but a few stolen moments against a guy who had a legitimate claim to being unbeaten.

Instead of splattering when he was hit, Murray bounced.

“Murray is a solid guy that arguably could have won both of the previous title fights,” Golovkin’s promoter, Tom Loeffler, told me over the weekend. “And the fact that he agreed to fight GGG puts him above the many middleweight title-holders that have either refused to fight him or swerve as far away as they can from him.”

Yes, Miguel. He’s talking to you.

But the problem for Loeffler and Co. is that if Cotto was unwilling to throw down with the guy last week, there’s roughly zero chance he’ll be changing his mind after watching a bigger (6-foot to 5-foot-7), stronger (32 fights at middleweight or above to one fight at middleweight or above) and younger (32 to 34) stand-in get his nose redone with gushing red highlights.

Still, even if the nonsensical WBC mandates the fight – which is possible after it gave Golovkin its cheesy interim belt last October – it seems light years more likely that Team Cotto would explore off-ramps toward safer destinations nicknamed “Canelo” and “Money” before risking a full-on facial realignment.

Even if Golovkin unifies the title in that manner, though, he’s really gained no ground in stature.

To get what he wants – a money fight against a premier foe – he may have to go Pacquiao.

Lest we forget, Manny assembled a reputation and built a following for several years while at least publicly pursuing a fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr., but he didn’t ultimately get what he wanted until his Arum-translated call-outs were met with back-room negotiating table subservience.

Though he’ll also head for Canastota five years after quitting and he’s got a resume with bullet points from 112 pounds to 154, Pacquiao still had to concede the A-side high ground to Mayweather and agree to take the short end of a 40-60 financial split in order to finally get his man in a roped ring.

Golovkin, with 19 straight KOs, passion from HBO and a title reign that many feel is the most legitimate – if not the most lineal – at 160 pounds, may have to take the same tack to earn his spotlight.

If he truly wants to share a marquee with a commodity like Alvarez, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. or even an MIA Andre Ward, it might be time he and his team make the proceeds so attractive to their desired quarry that even the prospect of heavy physical damage takes a distant back seat to avarice.

That means 40-60, 30-70 or even 20-80 when it comes to cash, and whatever other sacrifices are needed when it comes to site, gloves, ring size and pre-fight catering, so long as they yield a signed deal.

A-sides are great. But if you don’t get the big fight, you never win it.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

This week's title-fight schedule:

SATURDAY
IBF junior featherweight title – Belfast, Northern Ireland
Carl Frampton (champion/No. 3 IWBR) vs. Chris Avalos (No. 1 contender/No. 5 IWBR)
Frampton (19-0, 13 KO): First title defense; Tenth fight in Belfast (9-0, 7 KO)
Avalos (25-2, 19 KO): First title fight; Second fight outside United States (1-0, 1 KO)
Fitzbitz says: Avalos is by no means a soft touch, even on home turf. But if Frampton is what he appears to be – a genuine elite fighter – he’ll topple even a tough first title challenger. Frampton by decision

IBO junior flyweight title – East London, South Africa
Rey Loreto (champion/No. 9 IWBR) vs. Nkosinathi Joyi (unranked/No. 15 IWBR)
Loreto (19-13, 11 KO): First title defense; Beat Joyi (KO 3) to win vacant title in 2014
Joyi (24-3, 17 KO): Eleventh title fight (6-3, 4 KO, 1 NC); Held IBO and IBF titles at 105 pounds
Fitzbitz says: Joyi has lost three of his last five fights, twice by knockout, and he was flattened by Loreto when they met a year ago. But call me stubborn, I still believe he’s the better man. Joyi by decision

Last week's picks: 3-0 (WIN: Golovkin, Budler, Abraham)
2015 picks record: 5-1 (83.3 percent)
Overall picks record: 644-224 (74.1 percent)

NOTE: Fights previewed are only those involving a sanctioning body's full-fledged title-holder – no interim, diamond, silver, etc. Fights for WBA "world championships" are only included if no "super champion" exists in the weight class.

Lyle Fitzsimmons has covered professional boxing since 1995 and written a weekly column for Boxing Scene since 2008. He is a full voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Reach him at fitzbitz@msn.com or follow him on Twitter – @fitzbitz.