(Photo credit: Tom Casino/Showtime) By Dan Ambrose: In a perfect WBA junior middleweight champion Austin Trout (26-0, 14 KO’s) would be the one that ends up meeting WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in the ring on May 4th next, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen judging by the way Canelo chose not to speak with Trout on national television after his win over Miguel Cotto (37-4, 30 KO’s) tonight at Madison Square Garden, in New York.
Canelo chose to come to the fight hoping that Cotto would be the winner, but it didn’t work out that way unfortunately Alvarez. Cotto wasn’t able to close the distance to land his big power shots against the taller Trout. There’s little question that Cotto was the bigger puncher and the more exciting fighter. But this is boxing and it’s more than just who the bigger puncher is. Trout simply was the better fighter tonight and there’s not much Cotto or Canelo can do about it.
Alvarez had said that he would consider a fight with Trout depending on the fan reaction and his promoters at Golden Boy. If boxing fans want to see him fight Trout then he’ll face. However, it’s really telling that Alvarez chose not to speak with Trout after the fight, because that’s something that Alvarez likely would have done had Cotto been crowned the winner of the fight. Alvarez would have likely been right there for the television cameras to discuss a hoped for a fight with Cotto on May 4th, and the boxing public would have loved it. But that didn’t happen because Cotto got beat.
It’s going to be really, really interesting to see if Alvarez will face Trout or if he’ll still look to fight Cotto. I think I already know the answer. I see Alvarez still looking to fight Cotto because he’s still the much more popular fighter than Trout.
Alvarez will likely figure that the casual boxing fans will still be willing to pay big money in high numbers to see him fight Cotto on May 4th even though Cotto got badly beaten tonight. I thin it sends a wrong message Alvarez does this because it would show that money is the #1 factor rather than sport, but that’s what I see happening.
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