by David P. Greisman

Canelo Alvarez may be moving toward a fight with middleweight champion Miguel Cotto, but that doesn’t mean that he and his team feel that they are also ready for a bout with 160-pound destroyer Gennady Golovkin.

Perhaps that’s because Cotto is a small middleweight, someone who came in at 155 pounds for his win over Sergio Martinez and who will be defending his championship against Daniel Geale this June at a contractual catch-weight of 157 pounds. Golovkin, meanwhile, has long been a part of the division.

Alvarez and his promoter, Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy Promotions, feel that a Golovkin fight can still be made, though only when Alvarez is ready to make the move up to 160.

“In the future, why not?” Alvarez said, according to translation from Eric Gomez, Golden Boy’s vice president. “I’m open to fighting anybody, but obviously he’s in a different division right now. I wouldn’t want to give anyone advantages, but when I move up eventually, why not? No problem.”

Alvarez hasn’t actually been at or below 154 since his loss to Floyd Mayweather in September 2013, a bout that had a contractual limit of 152. Since then, he’s been at 155 for wins over Alfredo Angulo and Erislandy Lara, and he was at 154.5 for the victory over Kirkland.

Still, he’s near enough to junior middleweight that De La Hoya referred to the divisional difference as “a concern now.”

“Because ‘GGG’ is a solid middleweight. And Canelo, he can make 154 with no problem,” De La Hoya said. “We have to keep in mind that Canelo has been out of the ring before this fight for about nine months, and he [still] did make the weight relatively easy. He looked strong. He looked in tremendous shape and made 154 and a half. We have to go back to the drawing board and discuss future plans and see what weight he feels comfortable at. But eventually he is going to grow into a middleweight and is going to fight ‘GGG’ when the time is right.”

And when that time comes, De La Hoya said, the match would be huge.

“And I can guarantee you one thing: People were talking about the super-fight last weekend [Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao] — you talk about a super-fight, a year and a half down the road, two years, ‘GGG’-Canelo would surpass any type of number or hype of last week’s fight, and it would guarantee action. The fans want to see fights. They want to see action. They know the game. And the world knows that ‘GGG’ vs. Canelo down the road would be the next super, mega-fight.”

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