By Dan Ambrose: If WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (39-4, 32 KOs) can get past former IBF/WBA 160lb champion Daniel Geale (31-3, 16 KOs) in their fight on June 6th, Cotto will likely be facing the red-headed Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (45-1-1, 32 KOs) in the fall, according to Steve Kim. He spoke with reps for Cotto, indicated that the 34-year-old Cotto will indeed be facing Canelo next.
There’s talk that Cotto will take the fight with Canelo even if he loses the fight to Geale. In other words, the Canelo fight can be seen as a kind of cash out fight for Cotto. He doesn’t really have many other options for big money fights unless he wants to bite the bullet and face WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin.
Cotto hasn’t given in any sign that he wants any part of the hard hitting Golovkin, even though the money would be good for Cotto. The other big names, Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao, aren’t going to fight Cotto because they’re not going to move up in weight to fight Cotto. That leaves pretty much just Canelo, which is why Cotto will be facing him next.
“Everyone I spoke to at the media day that reps Cotto, gives me indication that they win on June 6th and it’s onto Canelo in the fall #boxing,” Kim said.
Cotto has been using junior middleweight Alfonso Gomez as a sparring partner to get him ready for the Geale fight. Gomez thinks he has a similar fighting style as Geale. I can’t agree with that belief, and I’m not sure if this is a good move for Cotto to be using a plodder like Alfonso Gomez to mimic how Geale fights.
Geale is a much more mobile fighter than Gomez. There’s nothing that those two fighters have in common other than they both have a last name that stars with a “G”.
“Geale I have a style similar to mine. But definitely Cotto has gained a very strong punch and has good aim. The difference, as I said before, is its precision. We are seeing a great Miguel Cotto,” Gomez said to ESPN Deportes.
I don’t agree that Cotto is a great fighter. He’s a small middleweight who won the WBC title courtesy of a catch-weight against a 40-year-old fighter with a bum right knee in Sergio Martinez. Cotto got the WBC 160lb title in a weak way, and now he’s defending it against Daniel Geale instead of facing his WBC mandatory challenger Golovkin. Speaking of Golovkin, he’s said to be okay with letting the Canelo-Cotto fight take place, but obviously he wants to fight the winner of the fight. But there’s no way he can put any pressure to make that happen. If the World Boxing Council try and force the issue, the Cotto vs. Canelo winner will likely vacate the WBC 160lb title without facing Golovkin. I think that’s going to happen anyway unless Golovkin backs off and lets the winner fight whoever he wants not named Golovkin.
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