Cotto: Canelo is next, then Golovkin

By Boxing News - 06/06/2015 - Comments

cotto6788By Dan Ambrose: WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (40-4, 33 KOs) had too much power for Australian Daniel Geale (31-4, 16 KOs) in blasting him out in the 4th round on Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Cotto put Geale down on the canvas twice in the 4th round with devastating shots to the head. After the second knockdown, Geale told the referee that he was done and the contest was halted.

After the fight, HBO commentator Max Kellerman asked Cotto who he plans on fighting next, and Cotto said that he’ll be fighting Saul “Canelo” Alvarez next. Cotto also said that he would be open to a fight against WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin after the Canelo fight if Golovkin has an open schedule and if he wants the fight.

“I caught him with a really hard left hook, and I just wanted to repeat that,” Cotto said after the fight. “I had 44 fights in my whole career. Canelo is just going to be another one. First of all before the Canelo fight can happen, if people want the fight, I want the fight, let’s do it. But before that I want to spend time with my family. I want to enjoy time with them. After that, I’ll be back in the gym training with Freddie [Roach].”

The Canelo vs. Cotto fight should prove to be an excellent fight if Cotto can fight like he did tonight against Geale. If Cotto can nail Canelo with the kind of left hooks he hitting Geale with, then it’s going to be awfully tough for Canelo to take those kinds of shots. For Canelo to win this fight, he’s going to need to be a lot more focused on his defense because Canelo was hit a number of times in his last fight by James Kirkland last May. At one point, Canelo looked hurt after Kirkland hit him with a hard right hand to the head. Canelo also gassed out briefly. He can’t afford to do that against Cotto because he’ll get knocked out if that happens.

When asked if he would be interested in fighting Gennady Golovkin after the Saul “Canelo” Alvarez fight, Cotto said “Ah, why not? But we [Canelo] need to do our fights. Canelo sounds like he’s going to be the next one. And after that if Golovkin is available, and he wants to fight, I’m available too. My weight yesterday was 153.6 pounds. Do you think I’m a middleweight? I’m not.”

It sounds good that Cotto is willing to fight Golovkin after the Canelo fight. But the problem is if Cotto loses the fight to Canelo, we probably won’t see Cotto in the ring with Golovkin. Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya already said that he’s not going to let Canelo fight Golovkin for two more years.

If De La Hoya was serious about it, then Canelo isn’t going to have anyone to fight after the Cotto fight. It’s going to look bad with Golovkin and Canelo moving on separate paths, and Canelo seemingly avoiding the Kazakhstan star. That’s why it’s important that Cotto win the fight against Canelo for the good of boxing. If De La Hoya is going to wait until Golovkin is older before he lets Canelo fight him, then boxing fans are going to miss out on a fight that needs to be made right now.

The fight was televised on HBO Championship Boxing.



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