By Keith Idec
Freddie Roach has a dog in the fight, yet he honestly believes a Canelo Alvarez-Miguel Cotto rematch will occur before Alvarez faces Gennady Golovkin.
Oscar De La Hoya, whose company promotes Alvarez, has said Alvarez will fight Golovkin in September, assuming both boxers continue to win. De La Hoya’s proclamation has been met with intense criticism, though, because he and Alvarez were adamant in the immediate aftermath of Alvarez’s knockout of Amir Khan on May 7 that the highly anticipated Alvarez-Golovkin clash would take place last month.
Cotto, meanwhile, hasn’t fought since Alvarez defeated him by unanimous decision 11-plus months ago in Las Vegas. Alvarez-Cotto reportedly drew 900,000 pay-per-view buys, thus a rematch is a viable alternative if the financial demands of Alvarez and Cotto can be met in accordance with the likelihood of a rematch generating fewer buys.
“I do think that will happen first,” Roach told BoxingScene.com regarding an Alvarez-Cotto rematch. “I don’t think it’s [Alvarez] that doesn’t wanna fight Golovkin. I think it’s his people, Golden Boy, because they have the golden goose right now. They have one of the highest pay-per-view fighters in the world today. I think that’s who’s protecting him. I don’t think fighters are scared of anybody, or each other, because fighters will fight anybody.”
The International Boxing Hall of Fame trainer thinks Cotto (40-5, 33 KOs) did enough to defeat Alvarez (48-1-1, 34 KOs). Puerto Rico’s Cotto, who will turn 36 on Saturday, lost by wide margins on all three scorecards last November 21 at Mandalay Bay Events Center (119-109, 118-110, 117-111).
“I would like Cotto to get a rematch with Canelo,” Roach said. “I think we beat him the first time. I just think we need to sit down on punches a little bit more, use our power a little bit more and show him that we can punch also. Because we out-boxed him the first time for sure. And I still think we won that fight easily. But I’d like to see Cotto get back in there with Canelo. He’s been on the bench for a little while now and we need to get back to more activity.”
The 26-year-old Alvarez suffered a fractured thumb in his last fight, a ninth-round knockout of England’s Liam Smith (23-1-1, 13 KOs) on September 17 in Arlington, Texas. He is expected to return to the ring May 6, though the date of his next fight hasn’t been confirmed by De La Hoya.
Cotto could fight former junior welterweight and welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (33-2-1, 13 KOs, 1 NC) in a 154-pound bout next if Alvarez chooses another opponent.
Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
