By Rick Reeno
Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas - Abel Sanchez, trainer of WBA/IBO middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin, is picking Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (45-1-1, 32KOs) to defeat WBC champion Miguel Cotto (40-4, 33KOs) in the fall.
Cotto-Canelo is being negotiated for a date in November and a finalized deal is very close.
The World Boxing Council has already ordered the winner of Cotto-Canelo to make a mandatory defense against Golovkin, who holds the WBC's interim title. Golovkin is potentially returning on October 17th, in a unification bout with IBF beltholder David Lemieux.
Sanchez believes Golovkin has a much better chance of landing a fight with Canelo. He doesn't have the same confidence when it comes to Golovkin's ability to get Cotto in the ring.
Canelo is middleweight bound in the near future - with or without a win over Cotto. The Mexican superstar has not made the junior middleweight limit since his fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. in September of 2013. His last three fights were held at a catch-weight of 155-pounds. The fight with Cotto will also take place at 155.
Sanchez expects Canelo to become a full blown middleweight by mid-2016.
"Oh absolutely [I think we have a better chance of getting Canelo]. I think Canelo being young, he's going to grow into 160 and by the time he gets through with Cotto, and he's going to beat Cotto, and then fights one more fight - then maybe by the middle of next year he will be a grown man, he'll be a lot bigger and he'll have a very difficult time making 154," Sanchez told BoxingScene.com.