Floyd and Cotto KO’s Team Canelo

By Boxing News - 01/23/2015 - Comments

canelo001010101By Robert “Big Moe” Elmore: Oscar De La Hoya and Saul Canelo Alvarez (I will refer to them as Team Canelo at times) were determined to defeat pound for pound king Floyd Mayweather by any means necessary and take back the Mexican dates (Cinco De Mayo and Mexican Independence day) in the process.

First they both tried in the ring. Oscar lost to Floyd via split decision in 2007 and Canelo was outclassed in 2013. Oscar even offered his so called “blue print” to several Golden Boy fighters to crack the May Vinci code.

The results: Floyd is still undefeated. Since neither could defeat Floyd in the ring they decided to try to do it another way. Oscar pulled Canelo from Showtime and signed him to HBO. And now all they needed was a big fight to compete with Floyd or get him off the May date altogether. They decided to target Miguel Cotto. Rather than lose the “outdo Floyd” attitude, approach the negotiations with just trying to get the fight made, and recognize they were the b side, “outdo Floyd” was three fourths apart of their campaign. They knew that Cotto was a tough negotiator to begin with. Cotto beating Sergio Martinez for the WBC middleweight title made him that much tougher.

The first thing that did Team Canelo was try to dictate terms of the venue. They said that THEIR PRIORITIES was to fight in Vegas or Texas while Cotto’s home Madison Square Garden was a “consideration”. Next was the purse split. The amount Cotto was offered was not disclosed, but I’m pretty sure it was less than Canelo’s. The first time these two negotiated, Cotto was offered 10 million dollars. Again, Canelo purse was not disclosed, but I know it wasn’t lower than Cotto’s take. Oscar would not pay someone else a larger sum of money than his own fighter especially Canelo.

Oscar later tweeted that Canelo had come down off the 50/50 split. Really? Canelo wanted 50/50? Based on what? Team Canelo continued to work the media telling the fans that everything was agreed upon and their end was dealt with. What I did like was Cotto, who is usually reserved and quiet, came out and doused every little false flame Team Canelo tried to start. This led to Canelo issuing a letter to the public calling for Cotto to stop running and sign the contract. Cotto didn’t budge or respond to the letter. In the end, Cotto defeated Canelo before they got in the ring…at the negotiating table. Let me explain.

First, Cotto has his own “holiday” (not really a holiday) that he fights on in June and it takes place during the weekend of the Puerto Rican day parade. He can fight then and maximize his revenue. Compare Cotto and Canelo’s recent fight purses. Cotto made 2 million against Delvin Rodriguez and 7 million against Sergio Martinez. Canelo made 1.5 million against Alfredo Angulo and Erislandy Lara. And even the two face Floyd, Cotto base purse was 8 million and Canelo’s was 5 million. So if Cotto fights again, he’s going to get top dollar for his services. Canelo not so much. Cotto understands the value of the dollar which is why he not about trying to do a pay per view event the same day as someone else.

Team Canelo were bent on doing this. I guess Canelo was prepared to sacrifice a few thousand dollars or so just to prove they are more popular than Floyd. But aside from this, HBO or Showtime would never stage a pay per view on the same night. It doesn’t make financial sense. Showtime aired a fight card with Canelo/Josesito Lopez headlining the same night Julio Cesar Chavez Jr fought Sergio Martinez (which did 475,000 buys). But the Canelo fight was REGULAR Showtime. Third, Cotto countered punched Team Canelo with the phrase “we’re entertaining other options”.

Whatever the reasoning for that phrase, it rattled Team Canelo enough to make them walk away from the fight. After Team Canelo walked, Cotto’s people released a statement on January 17th of this year that there were propositions they looking at and would get back to everybody on Tuesday of the following week.

Team Canelo will be the biggest loser here. If Floyd/Pac gets made, it will take place on May 2nd of this year putting Canelo’s “get his Mexican date back” world tour on hold for the moment, Golden Boy Promotions will not be involved in no way shape or form with this fight because Mayweather Promotions is fully legit promotional company. Cotto staggered Team Canelo already and Floyd can deliver the knockout blow with an ink pen and a signed dotted line.



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