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By Dan Ambrose: WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (36-2, 29 KO’s) wants three important fights against Antonio Margarito, Manny Pacquiao and Saul Alavez, says Cotto’s trainer Emanuel Steward to Ringtv. Cotto, 30, is scheduled to fight the badly depleted Margarito on December 3rd at Madison Square Garden, New York, New York.

Cotto is expected to win the Margarito rematch, but only because Margarito looks nothing like the fighter that destroyed Cotto three years ago. Margarito has lost two out of his last three fights since then and hasn’t come close to looking good in any of those fights. A rematch with Pacquiao would be up to their mutual promoter Bob Arum and to a certain extent Pacquiao. He’s already scheduled to fight Juan Manuel Marquez in November, and is looking to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr next year.

If a Mayweather fight doesn’t come off, then a Cotto-Pacquiao II rematch will be a likely option. Arum doesn’t have a lot of other guys to put in with Pacquiao. There’s talk of Mike Jones and Timothy Bradley being matched against Pacquiao, but neither of those fights would bring in the kind of money that Cotto-Pacquiao II would. It’s a good fight in terms of money, but not necessarily a competitive one.

Cotto was badly beaten in a 12th round knockout loss to Pacquiao in 2009. Cotto has fought twice since then, beating Yuri Foreman and Ricardo Mayorga. But Cotto needs more fights under his belt make boxing fans forget about how badly he was beaten down by Pacquiao.

Saul Alvarez would be a very good fight for Cotto if he can get it. Alvarez is young, strong and it’s a fight that would sell well. It might be a little early to make the fight now but sometime next year it would be an excellent fight, provided that Alvarez beat Alfonso Gomez in September and maybe one or two more guys after that. Alvarez would give Cotto problems with his power and boxing skills.