Canelo wants Cotto fight to take place in Las Vegas

By Boxing News - 08/31/2014 - Comments

canelo90By Dan Ambrose: WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto and trainer Freddie Roach are going to need forget about fighting former WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez at Madison Square Garden in New York; because Canelo says he’s interested in fighting Cotto in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Roach recently spoke of wanting Canelo to travel to New York to fight Cotto in front of his own fans, but he thinks Canelo will be afraid to do that. I’m not sure if it’s fear of Cotto for Canelo possibly not being keen on the idea of fighting in front of a large pro-Cotto crowd in New York, but rather Canelo not wanting to put himself in the position where he could end up losing the fight by a controversial decision.

“It could be held in May in Las Vegas,” Canelo said to Esto about a fight against Cotto. “My idea was to end the year as world champion, but perhaps wait for the next year, depending on what suits.

“I don’t think he’s brave enough to go into the lion’s den,” Freddie Roach said about Canelo likely not wanting to fight Cotto at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Canelo and his promoters at Golden Boy are still trying to figure out who his next opponent will be in November or December. Joshua Clottey, James Kirkland and Demetrius Andrade have been mentioned as possible opponents.

Clottey’s name is the strangest one on the list, because he’s only fought a handful of times since his one-sided loss to Manny Pacquiao back in 2010. Clottey did recently defeat Australian Anthony Mundine, but only hardcore boxing fans in the United States know about that fight.

Clottey has been out of the loop for so long that the newer casual boxing fans have no idea who he is. Hardcore boxing fans know who Clottey is, but they likely would have very, very little interest in seeing Clottey vs. Canelo. That’s fight that’s on par with Canelo’s recent mismatch against Alfredo Angulo. Canelo-Clottey is a weak fight in my view. No wonder Canelo reportedly is going to make his next fight on regular Showtime rather than pay-per-view. How would Canelo sell a fight against Clottey? If this was 2010, before Clottey was easily beaten by Manny Pacquiao, it still wouldn’t sell. Clottey is now 36 and not the fighter he was years ago, but perhaps that’s why he’s being targeted by Canelo.

Canelo is coming off of a disappointing 12 round decision win over Erislandy Lara last July. Canelo appeared to lose the fight in the eyes of a lot of boxing fans, but instead in giving Lara a rematch, Canelo is moving on with a certain amount of stink following him from his tainted win.



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