By Rick Reeno

Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer has advised BoxingScene.com that an offer "in excess of $10 million dollars" was presented to former three division world champion Miguel Cotto (38-4 32KOs), for a Showtime Pay-Per-View battle on March 8th against Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (42-1-1, 30KOs).

Schaefer had a meeting with Cotto and his team on Tuesday, where they discussed several topics - including the mega-match with Cabelo.

Cotto, a promotional free agent, worked with Golden Boy for both of his 2012 fights - against Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Austin Trout. For his last fight, against Delvin Rodriguez on October 5th, Cotto worked with Top Rank.

"The main topic of discussion was a potential Canelo fight. I made him a very lucrative offer, eight figures...well in excess of $10 million dollars. He said he is going to let me know what he decides to do. I told him it could be a one fight deal or a series of fights, whatever he wants to do," Shcaefer told BoxingScene.com.

Cotto is being lured to a potential fight with WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez, which HBO would carry as a pay-per-view event. But there are several issues with the fight - there is no determination on when Martinez will return to action. The Argentine star has been rehabbing numerous injuries since his April fight with Martin Murray. There is also a mandatory defense owed by Martinez to Marco Antonio Rubio, which the WBC is pushing due to a court order.

Between the two options, the Canelo fight is the more lucrative. There is the logic that Cotto could fight Martinez, and still have Canelo as an option even in defeat. But Schaefer says that logic works both ways. However, if Cotto fights Martinez and loses - he certainly would not receive the same monster monetary offer for a Canelo fight.

"No, of course it would be a different offer [if Cotto lost to Martinez]. We talked about that as well, a Sergio fight. If he wants to maximize his revenues, a Canelo fight is certainly much bigger than Sergio Martinez. I’m sure you heard the rumblings as well...and I hope Sergio is okay, but who knows he is able to fight. It's like the wheels are coming off. There are a lot of question marks behind a potential Sergio Martinez fight. It's not such a slam dunk.," Schaefer said.

"Here, with Canelo, he would make the most money, he knows the date, there would be no options as well - and then he could go on a fight Sergio Martinez, assuming he beats Canelo. And if he loses to Canelo the Sergio Martinez fight is still going to be there and he will know if Sergio can fight or not. And there is certainly much more security in waiting for the fall. Or if he beats Canelo and then wants to go fight Floyd Mayweather [in a rematch], that's an option as well."