Cotto-Canelo deal down to site decision

[bigjavi973]

Cotto-Canelo deal down to site decision

The Miguel Cotto-Canelo Alvarez middleweight world championship fight -- negotiated at a 155-pound maximum weight that favors neither man -- has been agreed to for the past couple of weeks with an announcement expected any day.

However, the sides are still trying to settle one important issue: Which venue deal should they accept?

Michael Yormark of Roc Nation Sports, Cotto's promoter, was in Los Angeles this week to meet with Golden Boy's Oscar De La Hoya, Alvarez's promoter, to go over the offers and crunch the numbers for the November fight.

They didn't want to talk about the offers but, according to multiple sources with knowledge of them, there are three venue deals on the table.

One is from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, one is from The Wynn in Las Vegas, which would partner with Thomas & Mack Center (which is undergoing a $70 million renovation that is supposed to be done by fight time) as the venue, and one is from New York's Madison Square Garden, which is essentially Cotto's home arena (even though his June 6 win against Daniel Geale took place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York).

The offers from the MGM Grand and Wynn/Thomas & Mack Center are both multimillion-dollar guaranteed ticket buys with the usual provisions for rooms and food credit. I am told the MGM Grand offer is worth more than $1 million more than the Wynn/Thomas & Mack offer.

If the promoters accept the MGM deal the HBO PPV fight would take place on Nov. 7, which is not the date preferred by HBO PPV. If they accept the Wynn/Thomas & Mack deal the fight would take place Nov. 21, which is the date HBO and Cotto's side like best.

The MSG offer, which calls for the fight taking place Nov. 21, is for a guarantee north of $6 million -- cash, not tickets -- meaning the promotion gets the money and retains the rights to the top floor seats to sell.

Although Cotto (40-4, 33 KOs) loves fighting in New York, where he packs the house with his Puerto Rican fans, his camp said he'll go where the most money is for this fight, be it New York or Las Vegas.

The Golden Boy side would argue that even if the guarantee is bigger in New York, they feel they can generate more money overall in Las Vegas and that because this is such a hot fight there's nothing wrong with a little risk.

The Cotto side would argue that with a larger guarantee in New York, not to mention a bustling city the week before Thanksgiving, Madison Square Garden is the place for the big fight, as opposed to Las Vegas on either Nov. 7 or Nov. 21.

Mexico's Alvarez (45-1-1, 32 KOs) also is said to prefer Las Vegas because his tax liability will be much smaller than in New York, and for a fight for which he stands to earn eight figures, that's significant.

So the fight is going to happen. Don't worry. It's just that the sides need to work through the minutia of each offer and keep on crunching those numbers.

http://espn.go.com/blog/dan-rafael/p...-site-decision

[Barcham]

Still another important detail to resolve... a step aside agreement with Golovkin. Without that, no title will be at stake which will have an effect on the financial bottom line for the fight. Title fights bring in more money.

[Da Boxer]

Still another important detail to resolve... a step aside agreement with Golovkin. Without that, no title will be at stake which will have an effect on the financial bottom line for the fight. Title fights bring in more money.

You think that they would be this far into the negotiations if that was not taken care off?

That is just a minute detail and Im sure it has been satisfied.

[King Man]

You think that they would be this far into the negotiations if that was not taken care off?

That is just a minute detail and Im sure it has been satisfied.

Yep

Too much money on the table for a small matter like that to be a major obstacle imo

[El Verdugo]

You think that they would be this far into the negotiations if that was not taken care off?

That is just a minute detail and Im sure it has been satisfied.

Yep

Too much money on the table for a small matter like that to be a major obstacle imo

Correct. There is too much $$ on the line for something like GGG having anything to do with the negotiations.

I think that GGG fans are out reaching a bit too far with some of the stuff that they will post and I do like GGG boxing style.

They should be more focused on what is GGG is going to do with Ward, and as a boxing fan I believe that Ward beats him clearly.

[bigjavi973]

Still another important detail to resolve... a step aside agreement with Golovkin. Without that, no title will be at stake which will have an effect on the financial bottom line for the fight. Title fights bring in more money.

It's the WBC... I'm sure you know about their history of things. Either way, Cotto-Canelo winner SHOULD & WILL fight GGG next.

[Barcham]

It's the WBC... I'm sure you know about their history of things. Either way, Cotto-Canelo winner SHOULD & WILL fight GGG next.

You do understand how contracts work? The champion, Cotto, is legally bound by contract to fight Golovkin NEXT unless Golovkin agrees to step aside. There has yet to be any details released regarding Golovkin accepting to do so. It really does not matter what the **** WBC want to do or not, they have been to court over this in the past and it almost pushed them into bankruptcy. They would not take a similar chance today with all the lawsuits floating around the boxing world.

I have said it before and will say it again, this will not be resolved until after Mayweather has his final fight and vacates his titles. The WBC will offer to put up the WBC 154 title in exchange for Cotto dropping the 160 title.

[boliodogs]

As a boxing fan I think GGG would knock Ward's ***ing head off.

[gmc_rfc_06]

Golovkin will have zero impact on this fight.

This is a mega-fight that sells on its own, the fight is far bigger than a belt. You're talking about two boxing mega stars along with a Puerto Rico-Mexico rivalry...it's a massive fight. If there is an issue with Golovkin then Cotto can give up the belt and the fight will still be every bit as huge.

These guys are both star attractions, they are not going to be dictated to by GGG.

[Beercules]

Las Vagas seems fair; I do wish it was at MSG though so I can go.