Cotto: I’m talking with Freddie to see who he wants me to fight next

By Boxing News - 06/13/2014 - Comments

cotto6788By Dan Ambrose: WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (39-4, 32 KO’s) is waiting to find out who his trainer Freddie Roach wants him to fight for his next fight in December. Cotto has become very close to his 54-year-old trainer since he’s led him to victories over Sergio Martinez and Delvin Rodriguez in his last two fights.

Roach hasn’t come out and said directly who specifically he wants Cotto to fight next, but he is saying he likes the idea of him fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez if either of them are interested in fighting Cotto.

“I have to wait a week as I am talking to Freddie to see what he wants us to do and what we will do,” Cotto said via Vanguardia.com.mx. “I’m just very grateful to Freddie and his entire group. I understand that the mix between Freddie and me has been key.”

Cotto might need to take a step back and get a sense of perspective here in terms of who he’s beaten in his last two fights before he hands over his future match-making to Roach. Sergio Martinez was a 39-year-old fighter literally on his last leg who had been out of the ring for 14 months prior to Cotto fighting him.

Martinez had been healing up from 2 major knee surgeries, and he hadn’t even taken a tune-up fight. As for Delvin Rodriguez, this wasn’t an A level fighter that Cotto was fighting here. Delvin had been easily beaten by Austin Trout before Cotto had ever gotten to him.

Instead of Cotto letting Roach tell him which guys he wants him to fight, Cotto should open his eyes and figure out who he himself would like to fight next. If his main interest is money, then he’s really got only two options: Mayweather or Canelo. Those guys will give him his biggest payday by far unless he’s willing to melt down to 147 to fight Manny Pacquiao again, because that’s the weight that he’d likely be asked to meet Pacquiao at.

If Cotto wants to prove that he’s not just a paper champion who took advantage of an older fighter with one bad leg in Sergio Martinez, then he needs to fight Gennady Golovkin to prove that he’s actually a legitimate champion at 160 and not a paper champion.



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