By Robert “Big Moe” Elmore: If anybody has studied my writings, I always champion for fighters to be more active in their careers. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez with the help of Oscar De La Hoya, seems to be taking that approach. But his approach comes with a twist. He wants to reclaim the Mexican holidays (Cinco De Mayo and Mexican Independence Day) away from the current occupant Floyd Mayweather. Oscar told fighthype.com that Canelo has agreed to all terms.
Ring Magazine online, my main source, tells an entirely different story. Let’s point out a few facts here. Fact one, Todd Du Boef and Gabriel Penagaricano (Cotto’s advisor) are leading negotiations for this fight. Not Arum. He was simply brought on to help move things along. Fact two; they are still negotiating and Cotto has not been informed yet of negotiations. Fact three; the venue has not been decided upon.
Madison Square Garden is a consideration. However Oscar said their priorities are Vegas and Texas (Cowboy Stadium or The Alamo Dome). Both of the Texas venues favor Alvarez. And fact four; Cotto is the A side and Canelo is the B side. Now that those facts have been established, I will break them down.
Alvarez’s approach. Canelo must think he’s negotiating with Alphonso Gomez, Matthew Hatton, or Josesito Lopez. The problem is Team Canelo is approaching Cotto like he is the B side to this fight when Cotto’s clearly the A side. Canelo has gone on record saying he wants the fight at 154 pounds and not 155. Canelo has no leverage anywhere in this equation. The only thing he can do is submit an offer sheet to Cotto’s people and go from there. Cotto has the power to reject that offer sheet and set the weight, ring and glove size, purse split and venue.
Rest assure his sticking point will be the venue(since one has not been selected yet) and the purse split. Cotto will hold his ground about wanting everything in his favor or he will go elsewhere. I believe Cotto will wait until this weekend, after the Tim Bradley/ Diego Chaves fight to make his decision. Why? Because Bradley fighting Cotto has been discussed earlier this year as a possibility. Bradley would have no problems being the B side and taking that fight. There is also the possibility of rematching Floyd as there were also talks of that fight happening. Now had Canelo been trying to negotiate with some like Gennady Golovkin, then they could dictate everything because Golovkin would be the B side.
Still Negotiating. Oscar said that Canelo agreed to all terms. All means that EVERYTHING has been worked out and there is nothing else to talk about. So how can Canelo agree to ALL terms if they are still negotiating?
Since Canelo can’t beat Floyd in the ring so he wants to do it outside of it. These are facts and this is there driving motivation behind making this fight. People want to see Floyd defeated so bad that they are hanging on to every word that Oscar and Canelo says. Some fans are saying “if the Cotto/Canelo fight is made, it will force Floyd to come up with a bigger fight” (i.e. Manny Pacquiao). But some haven’t considered the fact if Cotto walks.
Floyd will probably go to face Khan provided he gets pass Devon Alexander this weekend and Pac will more than likely face Jessie Vargas. And Canelo will be left to search for an opponent. Floyd will still come out on top because his fight with Khan will outsell Pac’s fight with Vargas. And Canelo’s bout, unless its Golovkin will be fighting on regular HBO. Moreover, Cotto has not said a word. Until I hear something from Cotto or his Gabby, all this talk from Oscar is just that…talk.
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