By Victor Salazar
Trainer John Scully gave nothing but praise to WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (40-4, 33KOs) for his performance this past Saturday night, when the Puerto Rican star knocked out Daniel Geale in four rounds at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Scully feels Cotto has looked like a fresher version of himself in recent fights.
“He (Cotto) looked like he did when he was younger, before Pacquiao and Mayweather,” Scully said to BoxingScene.com. “He looks strong at middleweight even as a junior middleweight. He looks super strong.”
Scully is not a fan of catch-weights or instances where fighters are drained at a disadvantage. While Cotto’s performance may have impressed Scully, the catch-weight of 157-pounds was a turn off.
“Losing weight is no fun,” Scully said. “People say it’s only its three pounds. Losing one pound sometimes is like losing 20. It affects you. There no way possible that you don’t think it may not bother you. You wonder if you have the same punching power, if it will affect your speed. I hate catch-weights and I think they are terrible for boxing.”
Scully feels Cotto vs. Saul "Canelo" Alvarez has to be next.
“It’s got to be,” Scully said on Cotto-Canelo being next. “It’s Mexico vs Puerto Rico. For the Hispanic community, that’s like Mayweather vs. Pacquiao.”
Scully also believes Cotto wants no part of a Gennady Golovkin fight and he indicates there is no shame in walking away from that matchup. Golovkin (33-0, 30KOs) is the mandatory challenger to Cotto's title.
“People don’t like it when you’re cut off-guard,” Scully said when referencing Cotto's momentary pause after being asked about Golovkin in a post-fight interview by HBO’s Max Kellerman.
“You saw his response. He doesn’t want that fight. He knows not to take that fight. It’s no disrespect to that because he's not a middleweight - he knows that, Freddie [Roach] knows that. No shame in not taking that fight.”