By Dan Ambrose: Golden Boy Promotions President Oscar De La Hoya is banking on the proposed fight between WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (39-4, 32 KOs) and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 KOs) reviving the Mexico vs. Puerto Rican rivalry like it was in the past when the likes of Antonio Margarito and Cotto faced each other in two bouts.
The Cotto-Canelo fight still hasn’t been negotiated and there are major questions whether it’s a fight that can be negotiated unless there’s movement on the side of the 24-year-old Canelo. If Al Haymon’s alleged $40 million offer to Cotto to face Floyd Maywesther Jr is true, then it’s very likely that Cotto will take that offer.
Cotto doesn’t appear to be happy with the negotiation figures, and with him being the A-side, he’s not likely going to bend to the younger Canelo.
“The fight that will continue the México vs Puerto Rico boxing rivalry. @caneloOficial vs @RealMiguelCotto #4theFans #pride #honor #5deMayo,” De La Hoya said on his Twitter.
De La Hoya has really got his hopes up that the Canelo-Cotto fight will attract a lot of interest. De La Hoya hasn’t floated a projected pay-per-view number yet that he thinks the fight will pull in, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s dreaming of the fight pulling in 2 million pay-per-view buys. I think the fight will be extremely lucky if it brings in half that amount.
If Mayweather vs. Marcos Maidana and Manny Pacquiao vs. Tim Bradley aren’t bringing in 1 million pay-per-view buys, then I don’t see a Cotto-Canelo fight doing 1 million either.
It’s hard to know what De La Hoya is expecting for the Cotto vs. Canelo fight. It’s possible he’d be happy with 700,000 PPV buys. But I think De La Hoya believes it’s going to bring in huge buys, well over 1 million. De La Hoya says it’s the second biggest fight that can be made in boxing behind Mayweather-Pacquiao, and he’s probably right. But that doesn’t mean that the fight will bring in huge PPV buys.
I think boxing fans are worn out with all the pay-per-view cards that are being thrust on them to see mediocre fights, and I just don’t think the fans are going to want to pay to see yet another one. When you’re getting Pacquiao vs. Chris Algieri and Pacquiao vs. Brandon Rios on PPV, it’s got to have a negative effect on the PPV market in my opinion. Ideally, the PPV fights should be assigned to big fights like Mayweather-Pacquiao or Gennady Golovkin vs. Cotto or Canelo. But there’s just too many mediocre fights and horrible fights that are now on PPV.
For the average boxing fans, they’re seeing their cable bill, which is already high as it is, getting another $70 added to it for a lot of fights that aren’t worth it in my opinion. Cable isn’t cheap, and these constant PPV fight cards aren’t cheap either. This is why I don’t see the Cotto-Canelo fight doing even 1 million buys. I see it bringing in a similar number as Pacquiao vs. Bradley 2. De La Hoya is going to need to likely get a big dose of reality when he sees the Cotto-Canelo PPV figures if this fight does take place.
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