By Miguel Rivera

Abel Sanchez, trainer of WBA/IBO middleweight champion Gennady "GGG" Golovkin, says Hall of Fame coach Freddie Roach knows very well that WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto is not ready for a fight with the big puncher.

Golovkin is the WBC's mandatory challenger to Cotto's title. Cotto defends his belt on Saturday night against former champion Daniel Geale at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

The WBC says the winner of Cotto-Geale must face Golovkin next. Sanchez does not expect Cotto to go forward with that order. Cotto more than likely is going to fight Saul "Canelo" Alvarez in the fall.

Golovkin plans to be ringside, watching the fight at Barclays on Saturday.

"I definitely rule out that fear is the reason Cotto has refused [Golovkin], because to climb into the ring you have to be a warrior -  but they know that Golovkin is much better than him at this point in his career, and they want the final part of his career to look good and that will not happen with GGG," Sanchez told ESPN Deportes.

"When Cotto said he would fight with Sergio Martinez, he said he would make that fight and then he was going to make the mandatory defense against the winner of the fight between Golovkin and Marco Antonio Rubio - but that was never done, he never met his obligation."

Roach recently stated that Golovkin was not a big enough name to demand a fight with Cotto. He claims Manny Pacquiao walked into the Wild Card Gym, while Golvokin was there, and the Filipino has no idea who GGG was.

"It is a pretext, because Freddie knows that Cotto is not ready at this point of his career to approach someone as hard as Golovkin. We want the WBC belt. If Cotto vacates it, we'll fight with someone for it. We want to establish [Golovkin] as the best at 160 pounds," Sanchez said.