Cotto-Canelo isn’t happening in 2014, says Arum

canelo7657By Chris Williams: Bob Arum of Top Rank doesn’t want to put together the fight that many boxing fans want to see between WBC middleweight title holder Miguel Cotto (39-4, 32 KO’s) and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (43-1-1, 31 KO’s) this year. Instead, Arum thinks the Cotto-Canelo fight will do better if he lets it marinate until next year in May at which point he plans on sticking it on Cinco de Mayo.

It’s obviously a terrible idea, because Arum isn’t going to kick a star like Floyd Mayweather Jr off of his fight date. Mayweather hasn’t come out and put dibs on the May 2nd Cinco de Mayo holiday weekend yet, but it kind of goes without say, doesn’t it? Mayweather always fights in September and May, and he’s impossible to move off those dates due to his huge popularity.

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Arum wants to match Cotto vs. Bradley in December on HBO PPV

bradley777By Chris Williams: Rather than put newly crowned WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (39-4, 32 KO’s) in with someone from his own weight class that could give him a good fight like Gennady Golovkin, Peter Quillin, Curtis Stevens, Daniel Jacobs or David Lemieux, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is talking about wanting to match Cotto vs. the recently beaten former WBO 147 pound champion Tim Bradley (31-1, 12 KO’s) for later this year in December on HBO pay-per-view.

Arum had been talking about wanting to match Bradley up against Cotto in the days following Cotto’s win over Sergio Martinez, but now Arum is starting to sound more serious wanting to match the Cotto-Bradley mismatch. The fight would be on HBO pay-per-view, not on regular HBO where you don’t have to shell out cash to see the fight.

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Cotto vs. Martinez brings in just 350K PPV buys

cotto674By Dan Ambrose: The results from this months’ HBO pay-per-view fight between former WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (51-3-2, 28 KO’s) and Miguel Cotto (39-4, 32 KO’s) are in and they’re not good. According to Dan Rafael, the Cotto-Martinez fight brought in just 350,000 PPV buys on HBO, well below the projected 475,000 buys that it was estimated to pull in.

The fight still made a profit, but it was a slim one and not the cash windfall that the promoters of the event Bob Arum and Lou Dibella thought it would be. Arum blames the poor PPV results on fan fatigue from having to purchase too many PPV events. Arum feels that the Cotto vs. Martinez fight was merely a good one, and not a great one designed for PPV. Dibella, for his part, blames the low PPV figures on fans having competing interests with horse racing event at the Belmont Stakes and Los Angeles Kings vs. New York Rangers Stanley Cup finals taking place.

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Robert Garcia: Mayweather beats Cotto at 160

floyd5444By Dan Ambrose: Trainer Robert Garcia believes that the Freddie Roach trained WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (39-4, 32 KO’s) would still come up empty if he were to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr (46-0, 26 KO’s) today at 160. Garcia doesn’t see it being any different than when Mayweather defeated Cotto at 154 two years ago in their fight in May of 2012.

“I think Mayweather beats Cotto at 160. Sure, that would be Mayweather’s 6th world title,” Garcia said to esnewsreporting.com.

Mayweather beat Cotto by the scores of 118-110, 117-111, and 117-111 in their fight two years ago. And that was with Mayweather fighting Cotto’s fight to give him a handicap. In a rematch, Mayweather would focus on his defense and make it difficult for Cotto to land his shots.

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Roach says Lara brings nothing for Cotto, even if he beats Canelo

lara455By Chris Williams: WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto’s trainer Freddie Roach says that WBA junior middleweight champion Erislandy Lara (19-1-2, 12 KO’s) doesn’t have much to offer for a fight against Cotto, even if Lara defeats former WBA/WBC 154-pound champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez next month in their fight on July 12th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Roach likes the idea of matching Cotto vs. Canelo, but not against Lara.

“Of course Canelo has to win so we can make the fight. I don’t think Lara brings enough to the table even if he does win. That fight does nothing for Miguel,” Roach said to thaboxingvoice.com.

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Arum says Canelo vs. Cotto could happen on Cinco de Mayo in 2015; Mayweather pushed off his date?

arum999By Dan Ambrose: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum if kicking around the idea of matching WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto against former WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez on Cinco de Mayo in 2015 or possibly this year. If the Canelo-Cotto fight does take place on Cinco de Mayo in 2015, they’ll effectively be pushing Floyd Mayweather Jr off of his date unless he can pick out a star big enough to cause Arum not to want to compete with his fight on that date.

It’ll be difficult for Mayweather to pick someone else popular enough to outperform the Canelo-Cotto fight unless Mayweather were to fight someone like Gennady Golovkin. That’s not going to happen though.

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Clearing up Cotto’s big victory over Martinez

cotto67777433333By Wepeeler: So I’ve let the dust settle from what was a monumental Miguel Cotto (39-4, 32 KO’s) win over WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (51-3-2, 28 KO’s) last Saturday night at Madison Square Garden, in New York. I had watched and read all the pre-fight hype, and I’ve followed all the post-fight action as well. There seems to be an overabundance of people claiming that Sergio knees were shot and that Cotto should have an asterisk next to his Middleweight championship. This is straight ridiculous.

First off, Sergio was the lineal middleweight champion. He beat the guy who beat the guy. And he BEAT guys down. He was often undersized and seemingly over-matched, but always came out victorious during a very impressive run that included Kelly Pavlik, Paul Williams, Sergey Dzinziruk, Dennis Barker, Matthew Macklin and big boy Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. He looked a bit rough in the Murray fight but look at the list of fighters he had just fought! Murray is a big strong ox, and Martinez still found a way to win. I say all this, because Martinez was the true lineal middleweight champ. Martinez vs. Gennady “GGG” Golovkin never happened, and although GGG owns part of the strap, he’s NOT the lineal middleweight champ.

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Cotto’s got more ability than Pacquiao, says Roger M

pac86By Chris Williams: Floyd Mayweather Jr’s trainer/uncle Roger Mayweather sees WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (39-4, 32 KO’s) as a better fighter and more dangerous guy than Manny Pacquiao, even though Cotto was stopped by Pacquiao in the 12th round in their catch-weight fight in 2009.

When asked by Hustleboss who the more dangerous fighter is Cotto or Pacquiao, Roger said “Cotto. Pacquiao ain’t [expletive]. Cotto has more ability. He’s a better puncher and he’s a bigger guy. Pacquiao ain’t never going to win no middleweight title.”

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Cotto the new Ring 160lb champion, Golovkin below him

cotto664By Dan Ambrose: With his 10th round stoppage win over WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (51-3-2, 28 KO’s) last Saturday night, Miguel Cotto (39-4, 32 KO’s) was made the new Ring 160-pound champion by Ring Magazine instead of unbeaten WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (29-0, 26 KO’s), who is widely recognized as the real champion at middleweight by many hardcore boxing fans.

Golovkin is ranked No.1 by Ring below Cotto. In other words, Golovkin is like a contender with the Ring 160lb belt while Cotto is the Ring 160lb champion. This is kind of controversial because very, very few boxing fans see Cotto as being the No.1 overall fighter in the middleweight division, and by Ring having him as their champion, it kind of makes them look like they’re not up date with what’s going on in boxing.

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Cotto: I’m talking with Freddie to see who he wants me to fight next

cotto6788By Dan Ambrose: WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (39-4, 32 KO’s) is waiting to find out who his trainer Freddie Roach wants him to fight for his next fight in December. Cotto has become very close to his 54-year-old trainer since he’s led him to victories over Sergio Martinez and Delvin Rodriguez in his last two fights.

Roach hasn’t come out and said directly who specifically he wants Cotto to fight next, but he is saying he likes the idea of him fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez if either of them are interested in fighting Cotto.

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