by Dan Ambrose: WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (35-2, 28 KO’s) returns to the ring in March of next year against four possible opponents in what pretty much will be a stay busy fight for him to get the rust out following shoulder surgery. The four possible opponents are Vanes Martirosyan, Cornelius Bundrage, Pawel Wolak, and Rigoberto Alvarez. With a big money rematch fight coming up in June or July next year against Antonio Margarito, it’s safe to say that Cotto won’t be fighting Bundrage and Martirosyan.

Not that those are great fighters, but they can punch a little and as bad as Cotto has been looking since his 11th round TKO loss to Margarito in 2008, he’d be in great danger of being beaten up and stopped by both of those fighters. I see Martirosyan and Bundrage as better fighters than Margarito at this point in Margarito’s career. He’s not the same guy that beat Cotto in 2008. Something is missing from Margarito. I think Cotto will be matched against Wolak (28-1, 18 KO’s) rather than Alvarez.

First of all, Wolak fights for Top Rank like Cotto, and his promoter Bob Arum will likely want to keep Cotto fighting his in house stable fighters. Wolak is a vulnerable fighter with only moderate power but terrible defensive skills. This is a fight that Cotto should win without any problems, even though Cotto is looking more and more like a shot fighter with each bout. In this case, it won’t matter because Wolak is very flawed and beatable. Cotto could probably win this fight in his sleep unless Wolak goes all out in the first two rounds and causes Cotto to quit under duress.

That’s a possibility, but it would take an all out attack by Wolak to make that happen and I don’t think he’s ready to go after Cotto the way he needs to in order to have a chance to beat him. Wolak was dropped in the 1st round in his last fight against Jose Pinzon on December 4th. Wolak was able to come back and score a 7th round knockout, but the knockdown showed that he’s got some major problems with his defensive game that needs to be fixed. I doubt they will, and that’s why he’s likely going to get the call for Cotto.

I can’t see Arum wanting to match Cotto against anyone really good at this point with a good money in house fight between Margarito and Cotto just around the corner. If Cotto can get through both of these fights, there’s talk of him fighting WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez in September 2011. Martinez will likely chew Cotto up and spit him out but it will be another big money fight for Cotto even in getting destroyed.