Cotto not available for Canelo’s March 8th fight

By Boxing News - 12/17/2013 - Comments

canelo63By Dan Ambrose: Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (42-1-1, 30 KO’s) no longer has the option to fight Miguel Cotto on March 8th, because Cotto won’t be ready to fight on that date. Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer says the options for the red-haired Canelo are down to three fighters – Alfredo Angulo, Erislandy Lara and Carlos Molina. As usual, Canelo will be the one that makes the decision on who his next opponent will be.

If Canelo chooses Angulo, then Schaefer says he’ll try and match up Molina with Lara on the undercard of Canelo’s March 8th card; presumably so that Canelo could then face the winner of that fight. I wouldn’t hold my breath on that happening if Lara is the one that emerges as the winner, because he’s got too much of the same Floyd Mayweather Jr. skills going for him, and he would probably beat Canelo right now.

Lance Pugmire of the LA Times said “Schaefer told me Miguel Cotto not ready for Canelo on March 8th. So Canelo expected to pick from Angulo, Lara, Molina this week. Schaefer said if Canelo picks Angulo, he’ll work to get Lara vs. Carlos Molina on same Vegas card. Lastly, Schaefer said he’s still hopeful Canelo and Miguel Cotto can fight later in 2014.”

It’s important that Canelo chooses wisely his next opponent because he wants his next fight to be his first pay-per-view card where he’s the attraction. In Canelo’s fight against Mayweather last September, it was Mayweather who was the main draw. But this time it’s going to be Canelo, and it’s going to be difficult for him to draw fans if he chooses Alfredo Angulo or Carlos Molina. He can definitely beat those guys, but will fans want to pay $60 to see Canelo fight Angulo or Molina in the main event? I think not. The only name of the three opponents that Schaefer mentioned that would result in a good PPV fight is Erislandy Lara, because he would have a real chance of beating Canelo and doing the exact same thing that Mayweather did.

At the end of the day I think Canelo will choose Molina to fight. He won’t choose Angulo because he was stopped in his last fight by Lara. And Canelo won’t choose Lara because the chances would be too high that he’d get beaten again. As such, it’s going to be a boring fight between Canelo and Molina, and I suspect the PPV numbers will be disappointing.

There’s no word about why Cotto can’t take the fight with Canelo on March 8th. Maybe Cotto’s just not excited about the thought of getting into the ring against the 23-year-old red-headed Canelo. Losing to a younger guy hurts a lot more than losing to a 39-year-old Sergio Martinez. Either way, I see Cotto losing to both Canelo and Martinez.



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