By Dan Ambrose: If you wonder why the Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs. Miguel Cotto fight negotiations broke down it’s because Cotto’s management weren’t happy with the financial side. In other words, the money wasn’t right for the fight.
Canelo, 24, officially pulled out of the negotiations earlier today after Cotto and his adviser Gabby Penagaricano chose not to accept the offer made by Golden Boy Promotions. It’s unknown what the money split offer was by Golden Boy, but you can bet that it wasn’t far enough in Cotto’s direction for him to take the fight.
It makes sense on Cotto’s part not to accept a deal that is too close to being 50-50, given that Cotto has done so much more with his career than Canelo right now. It’s just surprising that Cotto sat on the offer this long without kicking it back to Golden Boy with a number that they felt was more fitting.
“It’s always the financial side. There was no agreement on that,” Penagaricano said to ESPN.com. “I don’t know what would have happened if we had more time. If Oscar doesn’t have more time, he doesn’t have more time. It’s a great fight but Miguel doesn’t need it for his career. So if it doesn’t happen, so be it. He’s OK.”
Canelo pulled out of the negotiations today after Cotto failed to meet one of Golden Boy’s deadlines that they accepted. The fact that Golden Boy/Canelo were setting deadlines for a fight as big as this and with a star as big as Cotto was perhaps not the smartest way to try and put a deal together.
Canelo and Golden Boy needed to be more patient and come back with a number that was something that Cotto could either agree on or at least have something to continue negotiate with.
“This is not about deadlines. This is about trying to making a deal,” Penagaricano said.
That sounds like they weren’t feeling the deadlines that Golden Boy and Canelo were setting in the negotiations.
Cotto and his adviser will now be looking at plans for finding an opponent to face. Cotto hasn’t fought since beating former WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez in June 2014. It’s been seven months right now, and obviously Cotto is going to need to get back in the ring soon if he doesn’t want to lose his edge with rust setting in.
Additionally, he’s not going to be able to hold onto his WBC title forever if he doesn’t get back in the ring and start fighting again.
Floyd Mayweather Jr could wind up being the guy that Cotto fights next if the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight doesn’t happen. Cotto would be getting a huge fight if he can get the Mayweather bout, because it’s a far better fight than the Canelo bout. It’s the perfect situation for Cotto.
It’s also a great opportunity for Cotto’s trainer Freddie Roach to try and prove that he’s actually improved Cotto since he started training him. Roach has been doing a lot of bragging how Cotto is a better fighter under his watch, but thus far he hasn’t been able to prove this due to the condition of Cotto’s opposition.
Sergio Martinez looked old and feeble in his fight against Cotto last year, and it seemed pretty clear that his surgically repaired knee wasn’t fully healed. Cotto’s other win under Roach was against Delvin Rodriguez, a fighter who’d been easily beaten by Austin Trout.
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