By Chris Williams: WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto’s trainer Freddie Roach says that WBA junior middleweight champion Erislandy Lara (19-1-2, 12 KO’s) doesn’t have much to offer for a fight against Cotto, even if Lara defeats former WBA/WBC 154-pound champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez next month in their fight on July 12th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Roach likes the idea of matching Cotto vs. Canelo, but not against Lara.
“Of course Canelo has to win so we can make the fight. I don’t think Lara brings enough to the table even if he does win. That fight does nothing for Miguel,” Roach said to thaboxingvoice.com.
Roach can be dismissive of a fight against Lara, but he may find out soon that there aren’t as many options for Cotto as he might think there is. A fight against Lara might actually be about as good as it gets, because Floyd Mayweather Jr. likely won’t fight Cotto now given that he’s back with Top Rank. Cotto probably doesn’t realize that yet, but he’ll likely find out soon that by going back to Top Rank, he may have ruined his chances of a Mayweather fight.
With Mayweather and Lara off the table for Cotto, it leaves Gennady Golovkin, Manny Pacquiao, Tim Bradley, and a beaten Canelo. Roach already said that Canelo has to beat Lara in order to get the Cotto fight, so you’ve got to remove Canelo’s name from the potential opponents for Cotto’s next fight if he loses to Lara. Roach already said that he doesn’t know what Golovkin brings to a Cotto fight. So in other words, Golovkin and Lara are in the same boat in not being big enough names for Cotto to fight them. Pacquiao can’t take the fight because he’s not going to move up to 155 or higher to fight Cotto for his WBC middleweight title, and Cotto’s not going to drain down to fight him at a catch-weight.
Bob Arum already said that he’d like to match Tim Bradley against Cotto if Canelo doesn’t face him this year in December. So we’re probably going to see Cotto fighting Bradley, and that’ll be Arum’s big fight. Bradley will likely bulk up to 155 to fight at a catch-weight for Cotto’s WBC middleweight title.
Dan Rafael said on his recent chat “If Cotto doesn’t fight Canelo in December…I have heard Tim Bradley’s name mentioned as a possibility but they’d have to figure out the weight.”
So there it is. If Canelo loses to Lara, Cotto won’t be fighting Lara, Golovkin, Pacquiao and definitely not Mayweather. It’ll be Tim Bradley. I just wonder how many times Cotto and Bradley will face each other, because there won’t be anyone else for Cotto to fight other than a beaten Canelo unless Arum wants to put Cotto in with Golovkin at 160, but I can’t see that happening.
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