Cotto might not pay Golovkin $800K step aside fee

By Boxing News - 11/19/2015 - Comments

1-cotto-vs-alvarez (9)By Jim Dower: With Miguel Cotto (40-4, 33 KOs) choosing not to pay the sanctioning fees of $300,000 to the World Boxing Council for his WBC middleweight title to be on the line for Cotto’s fight against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (45-1-1, 32 KOs) this Saturday night in their fight on HBO PPV, it’s now unclear whether WBC interim 160lb champion Gennady Golovkin ( 34-0, 31 KOs) will be getting the $800,000 that he was supposed to be receiving for him to step aside so that the Cotto-Canelo fight could take place with the WBC title on the line.

Golovkin reportedly agreed to step aside for the Cotto vs. Canelo fight to take place despite the fact that he was the WBC mandatory challenger and it was he who should be fighting for the WBC title.

Golovkin was supposed to get $800K to step aside, according to the LA Times. but when Cotto decided not to pay the WBC the $300,000 in sanctioning fees for his WBC title to be on the line, he was stripped of his WBC title. Cotto appears to see no reason now why he should pay Golovkin the $800K now, given that he no longer has the WBC title.

What complicates this, however, is that the WBC President Mauricio Suliaman is saying that the WBC title will be up for grabs for Canelo despite the title no longer being in Cotto’s possession. This means that Golovkin lost his turn to fight for the WBC title, and he might not be getting the $800K step aside fee. Some boxing fans are saying it was a bait and switch by Cotto.

“I don’t need a belt to fight Canelo. I keep $1.1 million in my banking account, that’s better for me,” Cotto said to Lance Pugmire of the latimes.com about the $300,000 in sanctioning fees he won’t be paying the WBC for the Canelo fight, and the $800,000 step aside fee that was coming to Golovkin for him to let the Cotto-Canelo fight take place with the WBC title on the line.

In the meantime, Cotto’s trainer Freddie Roach is saying he wants Cotto to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. if he beats Canelo this Saturday. After that, he wants him to retire.

Cotto’s manager Gaby Penagaricano said to the latimes.com “Those are legal issues that we’re rather not get into” about whether Cotto should pay Golovkin the $800K that he originally had coming to him from Cotto for agreeing to step aside to let the Cotto-Canelo fight take place.

It’s still yet to be determined whether Golovkin will ever get the $800,000 that he thought he was going to get. But Golovkin wants the WBC title, and there’s not much keeping him from getting a shot at the title after the smoke clears from the Cotto-Canelo fight.

Canelo might end up with the WBC title, but he’ll need to make a hard decision within 15 days whether he wants to keep it or not. That’s when the WBC has said that a decision must be made.



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