By Dan Ambrose: Freddie Roach, the trainer for WBC 160lb champion Miguel Cotto (39-4, 32 KOs), says Gennady Golovkin (33-0, 30 KOs) as being too risky a fight for the 34-year-old Cotto for what he brings to the table in terms of potential money. Roach says that his No.1 fighter Manny Pacquiao recently walked past Golovkin in his Wildcard Gym in Los Angeles without knowing who Golovkin was.
For Roach, that was a big sign that Golovkin isn’t recognizable enough to put Cotto in with him yet. It’s hard to imagine Pacquiao not being able to recognize who Golovkin is because he’s been fighting four times per year on HBO, and you can’t miss him if you follow the sport on American television.
Pacquiao lives in the Philippines, so that might explain why he was in the dark about who Golovkin is. Since the PPV money that Cotto makes is from the American market, Golovkin is a very marketable opponent for him whether Pacquiao knows him or not.
“He’s a very nice guy. I like the guy,” Roach said via the Nydailynews.com. “But the thing is that when Manny Pacquiao walked by and didn’t know who he was – I was surprised because most fighters know other fighters and Manny Pacquiao had no idea who he was. If Manny Pacquiao doesn’t know who one of the best fighters pound-for-pound in the world is, there’s a lot of people who don’t know (him). And maybe that’s why he needs a little more exposure in America, I think,” Roach said.
It seems like Roach is looking for a reason not to put Cotto in with Golovkin. You have to wonder why Roach blessed a fight between Cotto and Daniel Geale, a fighter who has only had two of his fights televised in the United States during his career. When you compare the popularity of Geale and Golovkin in the U.S, it’s abundantly clear that Golovkin is the much more popular fighter. That’s why Roach’s argument that it’s not worth putting Cotto in with Golovkin due to his lack of recognition doesn’t hold weight. If that was the case than Roach would have been against Cotto facing Geale, but obviously he gave Cotto the green light to take that fight. The fight was given Roach’s stamp of approval. But then again, Roach has said in the past that he would never match one of his fighters against another guy that he didn’t think that they could beat. That might be a reason why Roach isn’t ready to let Cotto fight Golovkin, even though Roach has said that he sees weakness in Golovkin that he thinks Cotto could exploit.
“You have your choice of fighting two guys and so forth – are you going to fight the guy who is going to make you more money?” Roach said. “That’s the guy you’re usually going to go with. It’s risk and reward.”
Geale is definitely the less risky fight for Cotto, but sooner or later Cotto is going to need to either fight Golovkin or give up his WBC middleweight belt that some boxing fans feel that he’s keeping hostage by sitting on it and using catch-weights.
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