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By Sean Jones: Miguel Cotto’s trainer Freddie Roach has confirmed that Cotto will be looking to fight the winner of the September 16th battle between Saul Canelo and Gennady Golovkin on HBO pay-per-view. This is the news that the boxing world was waiting for. They want to see Cotto fight the winner of Canelo-GGG, and now they have happening potentially as long as the winner of that fight is on board with that.
There was some question of whether Cotto (41-5, 33 KOs) would target the Canelo-GGG winner, because he had said recently he was going to sit down with his team and make the decision after his fight against Yoshihiro Kamegai (27-4-2, 24 KOs) last Saturday at the StubHub Center in Carson, California.
Cotto, 36, beat Kamegai easily by a 12 round unanimous decision by the scores 120-109, 119-109 and 118-110. Kamegai looked like he had stumbled into the wrong ring. He didn’t resemble a top 10 contender. The World Boxing Organization had Kamegai rated number 6 going into last Saturday’s fight with Cotto. The WBO is the only sanctioning body that has Kamegai ranked in their top 15.
It didn’t take long for Cotto to make the decision. Roach said right after the fight that Cotto wants that fight against the Canelo vs. Golovkin. A win for Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs) could complicate things for Cotto, who is a lot smaller and weaker than the 5’10 ½” GGG. Both fighters are almost the same age, which is strange considering how well the 35-year-old Golovkin is still fighting. He’s been looking great lately. Cotto hasn’t faced a tough opponent since his loss to Canelo in November 2015.
“We want the winner of Canelo-GGG,” said Roach in spilling the beans about Cotto wanting the winner of that fight.
If Golovkin beats Canelo, it likely won’t take long for Team Cotto to dismiss him as the guy that they want to fight in December. The reason being, Cotto will likely want to fight at a catch-weight handicap in order to get an advantage against Golovkin. We’re already heard Golovkin say he will only fight at a catch-weight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. and not against anyone else. If Cotto insists that Golovkin boil down to 155 or 156 in order to fight him, I see him rejecting that request.
I’d like to think that Cotto will then turn around and take the fight with Golovkin at the full weight for the middleweight division, but I don’t think he’ll do it. I think Cotto will use Golovkin’s refusal to fight him at a catch-weight as an excuse to move on and fight Canelo instead. It’s kind of predictable when you think about it. Golovkin will say no to Cotto’s catch-weight request, and he likely won’t budge in wanting one. Cotto will then ask Canelo, who will gladly agree to the catch-weight, which will likely be 155 like it was when they fought each other on November 21, 2015.
I’m not sure if Cotto is going to be able to fight the winner of the Canelo vs. GGG fight in December. There’s a chance that Canelo might be stomping mad if Golovkin plants him on the canvas for the 10 count on September 16. As proud as the red-haired Mexican star is, I find it hard to believe that he’ll let Golovkin move on to face Cotto directly. Canelo has a rematch clause in the contract with Golovkin, and presumably there’s language in the contract that states that Triple G needs to fight him right away rather than at a later date.
It hurts Canelo’s boxing career if Golovkin smashes him to bits and the leaves in the rearview mirror to go and fight Cotto in December to send him off into retirement with a likely knockout loss. After Golovkin faces Cotto, he’ll surely want to fight WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders for his title. Golovkin wants Saunders’ WBO belt.
Cotto is saying that Roach will name his next opponent, but I honestly doubt that he’ll want to fight Golovkin. I see Cotto choosing to fight Canelo no matter how badly he loses to Golovkin. Canelo could get knocked out I the 1st round by Triple G on September 16th, and I still see Cotto wanting to fight him rather than Golovkin.
The reason why Cotto would want to fight Canelo is as follows:
– Canelo already beat Cotto by a close 12 round unanimous decision on November 21, 2015. Cotto will likely want to avenge that loss. He came close to beating Canelo.
– There’s more money in fighting canelo than there is in facing Golovkin. Cotto’s fight against Canelo brought in over 900,000 PPV buys on HBO. Golovkin’s only PPV fight in his career was against Danny Jacobs last March, and that fight brought in around 160,000 buys. When it’s all said and done, Cotto will very likely opt to take the biggest money fight available to him, even if that means fighting Canelo with him coming off of a potential devastating knockout loss to GGG. It’s nice that Cotto’s trainer Freddie Roach is talking bold right now about how Cotto wants to fight the winner of the Canelo-Golovkin fight, but I think they’re hoping like mad that Canelo will be the one that wins the fight. That would make things much easier for them because it wouldn’t put them in the position to be seen by the boxing public taking on the LOSER of the Canelo vs. Golovkin fight. Of course, Roach is going to say that Cotto wants to fight the winner of the Canelo vs. Gennady fight. It would make him look like a cherry picker if Roach came to and said ‘we only want Canelo no matter what. It doesn’t matter if he gets beaten by Golovkin. We still want to fight him and not Triple G.’ If Roach said that, Cotto would be the laughing stock in the minds of a lot of boxing fans. But if Cotto just silently takes the Canelo fight if/when he gets beaten by Golovkin, then he’ll only start taking abuse at that time instead of having to deal with months of criticism from the boxing fans.
If Cotto wants a chance to possibly end his career with a victory rather than a knockout loss, then he’s probably going to need to fight Canelo. Cotto already proved in 2015 that he could go the full 12 round distance with Canelo. If Canelo was a big puncher, he would have knocked Cotto out the way that Antonio Margarito did in 2008. Canelo won’t be able to knockout Cotto in a rematch, especially if he has to boil down to fight at a catch-weight.
There was some question of whether Cotto (41-5, 33 KOs) would target the Canelo-GGG winner, because he had said recently he was going to sit down with his team and make the decision after his fight against Yoshihiro Kamegai (27-4-2, 24 KOs) last Saturday at the StubHub Center in Carson, California.
Cotto, 36, beat Kamegai easily by a 12 round unanimous decision by the scores 120-109, 119-109 and 118-110. Kamegai looked like he had stumbled into the wrong ring. He didn’t resemble a top 10 contender. The World Boxing Organization had Kamegai rated number 6 going into last Saturday’s fight with Cotto. The WBO is the only sanctioning body that has Kamegai ranked in their top 15.
It didn’t take long for Cotto to make the decision. Roach said right after the fight that Cotto wants that fight against the Canelo vs. Golovkin. A win for Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs) could complicate things for Cotto, who is a lot smaller and weaker than the 5’10 ½” GGG. Both fighters are almost the same age, which is strange considering how well the 35-year-old Golovkin is still fighting. He’s been looking great lately. Cotto hasn’t faced a tough opponent since his loss to Canelo in November 2015.
“We want the winner of Canelo-GGG,” said Roach in spilling the beans about Cotto wanting the winner of that fight.
If Golovkin beats Canelo, it likely won’t take long for Team Cotto to dismiss him as the guy that they want to fight in December. The reason being, Cotto will likely want to fight at a catch-weight handicap in order to get an advantage against Golovkin. We’re already heard Golovkin say he will only fight at a catch-weight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. and not against anyone else. If Cotto insists that Golovkin boil down to 155 or 156 in order to fight him, I see him rejecting that request.
I’d like to think that Cotto will then turn around and take the fight with Golovkin at the full weight for the middleweight division, but I don’t think he’ll do it. I think Cotto will use Golovkin’s refusal to fight him at a catch-weight as an excuse to move on and fight Canelo instead. It’s kind of predictable when you think about it. Golovkin will say no to Cotto’s catch-weight request, and he likely won’t budge in wanting one. Cotto will then ask Canelo, who will gladly agree to the catch-weight, which will likely be 155 like it was when they fought each other on November 21, 2015.
I’m not sure if Cotto is going to be able to fight the winner of the Canelo vs. GGG fight in December. There’s a chance that Canelo might be stomping mad if Golovkin plants him on the canvas for the 10 count on September 16. As proud as the red-haired Mexican star is, I find it hard to believe that he’ll let Golovkin move on to face Cotto directly. Canelo has a rematch clause in the contract with Golovkin, and presumably there’s language in the contract that states that Triple G needs to fight him right away rather than at a later date.
It hurts Canelo’s boxing career if Golovkin smashes him to bits and the leaves in the rearview mirror to go and fight Cotto in December to send him off into retirement with a likely knockout loss. After Golovkin faces Cotto, he’ll surely want to fight WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders for his title. Golovkin wants Saunders’ WBO belt.
Cotto is saying that Roach will name his next opponent, but I honestly doubt that he’ll want to fight Golovkin. I see Cotto choosing to fight Canelo no matter how badly he loses to Golovkin. Canelo could get knocked out I the 1st round by Triple G on September 16th, and I still see Cotto wanting to fight him rather than Golovkin.
The reason why Cotto would want to fight Canelo is as follows:
– Canelo already beat Cotto by a close 12 round unanimous decision on November 21, 2015. Cotto will likely want to avenge that loss. He came close to beating Canelo.
– There’s more money in fighting canelo than there is in facing Golovkin. Cotto’s fight against Canelo brought in over 900,000 PPV buys on HBO. Golovkin’s only PPV fight in his career was against Danny Jacobs last March, and that fight brought in around 160,000 buys. When it’s all said and done, Cotto will very likely opt to take the biggest money fight available to him, even if that means fighting Canelo with him coming off of a potential devastating knockout loss to GGG. It’s nice that Cotto’s trainer Freddie Roach is talking bold right now about how Cotto wants to fight the winner of the Canelo-Golovkin fight, but I think they’re hoping like mad that Canelo will be the one that wins the fight. That would make things much easier for them because it wouldn’t put them in the position to be seen by the boxing public taking on the LOSER of the Canelo vs. Golovkin fight. Of course, Roach is going to say that Cotto wants to fight the winner of the Canelo vs. Gennady fight. It would make him look like a cherry picker if Roach came to and said ‘we only want Canelo no matter what. It doesn’t matter if he gets beaten by Golovkin. We still want to fight him and not Triple G.’ If Roach said that, Cotto would be the laughing stock in the minds of a lot of boxing fans. But if Cotto just silently takes the Canelo fight if/when he gets beaten by Golovkin, then he’ll only start taking abuse at that time instead of having to deal with months of criticism from the boxing fans.
If Cotto wants a chance to possibly end his career with a victory rather than a knockout loss, then he’s probably going to need to fight Canelo. Cotto already proved in 2015 that he could go the full 12 round distance with Canelo. If Canelo was a big puncher, he would have knocked Cotto out the way that Antonio Margarito did in 2008. Canelo won’t be able to knockout Cotto in a rematch, especially if he has to boil down to fight at a catch-weight.
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