Cotto will vacate WBC title rather than fight Golovkin, says Gennady’s promoter

By Boxing News - 02/04/2015 - Comments

golovkin994By Dan Ambrose: WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler thinks WBC 160 pound champion Miguel Cotto (39-4, 32 KOs) will look to take one title-milking fight to defend his WBC middleweight title, and then he’ll vacate the belt to avoid facing his mandatory challenger Golovkin.

Loeffler says he’s reached out to Cotto to try and setup a fight between him and Golovkin, and he’s had no luck.

Since his contract negotiations with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez failed, Cotto and his management have been looking to get an opponent for his next fight. There’s still no scheduled opponent, although Top Rank promoter Bob Arum has mentioned wanting to match Cotto against Brandon Rios or Tim Bradley next. Both of those fighters are welterweights, and would need to move up two divisions to face the 34-year-old Cotto.

“Cotto knows Gennady is his mandatory, and the WBC will enforce the mandatory after this next fight,” Loeffler said to Thesweetscience.com. “I am sure Cotto will want one more payday before vacating the title, instead of fighting Triple G. Nobody seriously thinks he will fight Gennady at 160.”

It’ll look bad if Cotto vacates his WBC title without fighting Golovkin, as it’ll make Cotto’s win over the 39-year-old Sergio Martinez look like an empty victory and little more than an example of cherry picking an opponent. Cotto beat the gimpy-kneed Martinez last June in taking his WBC title.

While Cotto’s trainer Freddie Roach said that Sergio Martinez was in his prime, few boxing fans agree with that. Many of them see Roach and Cotto as having waited until Martinez was over-the-hill before fighting him.

Cotto needs to show that he’s willing to face Golovkin and defend it no matter how big of a risk it is. If Cotto turns around and fights someone like Bradley or Rios instead of Golovkin, then it’ll take away any argument that Cotto might have about him not facing Golovkin due to his lack of popularity.

If Cotto is willing to fight Bradley or Rios, who are no more popular than Golovkin, then he should be able to fight Golovkin as well.

Golovkin will be fighting this month on February 21st against #1 WBC Martin Murray (29-1-1, 12 KOs) at the Salle des Étoiles, Monte Carlo, Monaco. Golovkin needs to get past Murray for him to be in position to fight for the WBC title against whoever.

If Cotto vacates his WBC title then Golovkin will be fighting for the vacant WBC title against the next available contender willing to fight him. #2 WBC is David Lemieuz, but he probably won’t agree to fight Golovkin. This means Golovkin would likely face #3 WBC Jorge Sebastian Heiland for the vacant WBC title.

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