By Frank Warren
Cotto v Canelo doesn’t need a title to be one of the all-time great fights
Stand by your sets for a sure-fire epic this weekend that may well go down in the annals of boxing as one of the great fights in recent years.
When Miguel Cotto and Saul ’Canelo’ Alvarez clash at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas it will be night of Latino pride and passion, a fiery scrap for the connoisseur as well as the casual fan and one no BoxNation subscriber will want to miss.
We’ve had some crackers this year featuring the great Gennady Golovkin, Timothy Bradley, Terence Crawford plus Andy Lee and Peter Quillin and the emergence of two fresh and exciting home-brewed world kingpins in Terry Flanagan and Liam Smith, all live and exclusive on the Channel of Champions. Now comes a really classic matchup.
Warrior is a word that could have been invented for Cotto.
One of boxing’s elder statesman – one bordering on having the label ‘legend’ affixed to his name - the four-weight world champion has revived a once-flagging career and has never looked in better nick. Back in 2012, following consecutive losses to Floyd Mayweather Jnr and Austin Trout at 154 pounds, the US-born Puerto Rican was considered by many to be a back number.
Sensibly he turned to Hall of fame trainer Freddie Roach and the Wild Card gym to restore his apparently drained desire.
Although the WBC withdrew their recognition of Cotto as middleweight champion this week, widely believed to be because he declined to pay their $300,000 (£200,000) sanction fee – while saying Alvarez will be named champion if he wins – this is not a contest that demands a title tag be a classic.
The now ex-WBC champion stopped another former world champion Daniel Geale in four rounds in June to set up the fight with the famously fiery red-topped Mexican who was equally impressive in his last contest, spectacularly halting James Kirkland inside three rounds in May. This created one of the natural ‘mega-fights’ the sport craves.
Both fought and lost to on points to Mayweather, with Alvarez even extracting a drawn card from one of the ringside judges, though I thought Mayweather clearly won.
Mayweather said that Cotto was ‘the toughest guy I’ve ever faced” and the one certainty is that Puerto Rican will fight with all the intensity he can muster against an opponent who is bigger and arguably stronger though Cotto is likely to be more comfortable at the catchweight of 155lbs.
Despite 25-year-old former super-welterweight champion Alvarez actually having had more fights (47 to the decade older Cotto’s 44) in a five-years shorter career, Cotto has the edge in experience having a greater number of ‘name’ opponents on his ring dance card.
As the fight will take place below the middleweight limit this might suit Cotto better as the smaller man. The Mexican will need to make the greater adjustment in training but should he get it right his ingrained aggressiveness could dominate in a contest that will be determined as much by physicality as technical expertise.
When allied with the youth of Alvarez, this may prove too much even for boxing’s eternal warrior in an mesmerising collision of skill and will that could be both brutal and bloody.
I must say I fancy Alvarez to win, possibly inside the distance after a really tremendous fight, but renaissance man Cotto has defied the odds before so it would be ridiculous to write him off.
Cotto v Canelo is live on BoxNation (Sky 437/490HD, Virgin 525, TalkTalk 415, online or app) this Saturday night. Visit boxnation.com to subscribe.
