By Dan Ambrose: WBC junior middleweight Saul “Canelo” Alvarez really needs Miguel Cotto (37-3, 30 KO’s) to come out victorious on Saturday night kn his fight against WBA World junior middleweight champion Austin Trout (25-0, 14 KO’s) to keep his hopes alive for a big money unification bout with Cotto for May 4th next year.

Alvarez hasn’t gotten any nibbles from Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Sergio Martinez for the May 4th date that Alvarez picked out for his next fight, and it’s like more and more like Alvarez made a rookie mistake by choosing to not to fight in December and thinking that he could get one of the big names to fight him on May 4th.

Alvarez isn’t all that interested in fighting Trout if he comes out on top against Cotto on Saturday night unless Trout really looks impressive. Even then Golden Boy Promotions, the promoters for Alvarez, will choose to not make that fight for Alvarez due to Trout’s mobility, southpaw stance and just overall talent.

Golden Boy has been matching Alvarez against older fighters and small guys with zero mobility. Trout would be a dramatic shift away from those types of fighters and Alvarez would likely not be prepared.

Alvarez said to RingTV.com about the Cotto-Trout fight: “Cotto’s going to start to dominate that scenario, and eventually, he’s going to knock out Austin Trout.”

I would buy what Alvarez said if not for the fact that he was so badly wrong in his prediction for the Josesito Lopez vs. Victor Ortiz fight, and for the fact that Alvarez has an interest in seeing Cotto win this fight against Trout. Alvarez needs to Cotto win because that’s really his only chance at getting that big named opponent for May 4th, the Mexican Cino de Mayo holiday. Boxing fans would probably love a Cotto vs. Alvarez fight, but the problem is that Cotto is an aging star and he’s facing a young talent in Trout. Youth beats age most of the time, especially when you’ve got a young star like Trout.

Alvarez wants a Mexico vs. Puerto Rican rivalry type fight, because of the amount of fan interest that fight could generate. A Cotto-Alvarez fight would be a PPV bout, and Alvarez would easily get his biggest payday of his still young 7 year pro career.