By Miguel Rivera

A collision between Saul "Canelo" Alvarez and Miguel Cotto took a very big step in the right direction when the Mexican star announced on Tuesday that he was leaving Showtime and signed a long term agreement with HBO, who presently showcase fights involving Cotto. Canelo is returning to HBO on December 6th, likely against veteran fighter Joshua Clottey.

"Miguel is interested in big fights. And the big fights have a name called pay-per-view. Back when this fight was first discussed, it was perhaps too early. Canelo had never headlined on pay-per-view. Now he's already had two pay-per-views [that he carried] and they yielded decent results. If a fight [between Cotto and Canelo] would happen now it would be very successful," Cotto's legal adviser Gabriel Peñagarícano told Carlos Narvaez. "This is something that can happen in the not too distant future."

Top Rank and Golden Boy Promotions are interested in staging that fight in May of next year. Cotto may take an interim fight in early 2015.