Cotto-Canelo negotiations dragging on

By Boxing News - 08/06/2015 - Comments

canelo898999By Dan Ambrose: Roc Nation Sports president Michael Yormack says that the negotiations between his fighter WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto and 24-year-old challenger Saul “Canelo” Alvarez are still moving forward despite the slow progress. He’s making sure that the contract is the best possible one for the 34-year-old Cotto.

He didn’t mention the rematch clause, which is what Canelo’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya said this week that that the negotiations are stalled at. De La Hoya feels that if they can’t agree on the rematch clause then they need to throw the thing out completely. If they do have an immediate rematch, then the winner of the fight will have to vacate the WBC 160lb title, because Golovkin is due his shot at the title.

Golovkin was supposed to be getting his title shot at the WBC belt right now, but he’s allowing the Cotto-Canelo fight to take place this time with the condition that he gets to face the winner. But Golovkin isn’t going to step aside again and let Cotto and Canelo fight each other indefinitely while holding the WBC middleweight title hostage in catch-weight fight after catch-weight fight.

“Contrary to other reports, Roc Nation Sports, Miguel Cotto Promotions along with Gaby Penagaricano are all on the same page regarding negotiations for Miguel’s next match up and have been working together to get the right deal,” Yormack said via fightnews.com. “We are being diligent and ensuring that the contract being drawn up reflects the best possible position for Miguel and our team. And for that reason, we are not in a rush to make a premature announcement before that is achieved.”

You can’t blame Cotto’s promoters in trying to get the best deal possible for him, because the chances are fairly high that he’s going to take a beating and get knocked out. I don’t know where Cotto can go if he loses this fight. He’s probably not going to want to fight a puncher like Golovkin coming off of a loss.

Cotto probably won’t get a fight against Mayweather next year off of a loss if Mayweather continues his career beyond his September 12th fight. That’s why it’s so important for Cotto to get the best deal possible. He’s not a young lion any longer, and there’s really no one for Cotto to fight if he goes back down to 154 other than dragging welterweights up in weight to fight him. We’re not going to see Cotto fight anyone difficult like Demetrius Andrade, the Charlo brothers or Erislandy Lara.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Cotto retires off a couple of losses to Canelo. I have a feeling that the WBC middleweight title won’t be a concern for either of these two fighters. They’ll likely sacrifice the WBC title so that they can keep fighting each other and making huge money without the threat of Golovkin in getting in between them and spoiling the money stream by knocking one of them out and ending any thoughts of a second fight.

A second fight between Cotto and Canelo must take place right away. You can’t have the winner of the Cotto-Canelo fight facing Golovkin and getting obliterated by him, because no one want to pay to see a second fight between Canelo and Cotto after that happens. That’s why I’m pretty sure that Cotto and Canelo are planning on stiffing Golovkin by not fighting him.

They’ll gladly give up the WBC trinket if it means they can face each other another time, and perhaps even two more times to keep the money stream going for as long as possible. The only way I think the winner of the Cotto-Canelo fight will keep the WBC title is if they give Golovkin a step aside fee so that he’ll let them continue to fight each other rather than him.

If they tell Golovkin that he can either wait for them to end their series of fights or take the title, which would meaningless to Golovkin, then I think there’s a pretty good chance that Golovkin will step aside once again and let Canelo and Cotto to fight each other a second and perhaps even a third time. There’s not a lot to gain for the winner of the Cotto-Canelo fight to immediately face Golovkin. Even if they drain him by making it conditional that he drop down all the way to 155 to fight them, Golovkin will still likely absolutely destroy these guys.



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