By Allan Fox: Miguel Cotto believes WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (41-0-1, 30 KO’s) has a good chance of beating WBA champion Austin Trout on April 20th in their unification bout. Cotto is pretty familiar already with what the 27-year-old southpaw Trout brings to the table after having been beaten by him by a 12 round unanimous decision last December by the scores of 117-111, 117-111 and 119-109.
Trout didn’t overpower Cotto, but instead used movement, a steady jab and plenty of speedy shots to keep the shorter Cotto on the outside unable to land his big power shots.
Cotto said to RingTV “If Canelo brings his strength, I could see him winning, but it is going to be a tough, tough fight.”
Canelo’s power is the key in this fight. Canelo has the power to make this a short night if he’s able to close the distance and work on the inside. That’s the important part because Canelo and Cotto are very similar fighters in fighting style and more or less in size. Canelo is a taller than Cotto at 5’9” compared to Cotto’s 5’7”.
Canelo and Trout are the same height, but Trout has a longer reach, faster hands, and he prefers to stay on the outside where he is able to control his opponents with his long shots. Canelo has to get in close for him to do his best work. He’s not a great outside fighter, although he is capable of hurting his opponents with long right hands from time to time.
Canelo is not going to going to be able to dominate a fighter like Trout using that kind of fighting style. Canelo absolutely has to cut off the ring and force Trout to fight with him in close. Trout doesn’t have the power to win that kind of fight, and if Canelo can force the fight on him then he’ll easily win on April 20th. The only question is whether Canelo can cut off the ring consistently enough to get the victory.
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