By Dan Ambrose: WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (40-4, 33 KOs) had better be prepared for anything when he faces former WBA/WBC 154lb champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (45-1-1, 32 KOs) next month on 11/21, because the Mexican Canelo says he’s willing to take out all the stops to beat Cotto in their HBO PPV fight at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino.
Canelo, 25, needs a win over Cotto to take his career to the next level right now, because his past performances against Floyd Mayweather Jr, Erislandy Lara and Austin Trout have stunted his growth as a star.
Cotto, 34, is near the end of his career, so a loss for him isn’t as bad. But a defeat for the red-haired Canelo would be disastrous.
“[I will do] whatever it takes. I’m ready to give whatever it takes in the ring to win this fight. I will go in there and give the best of myself to make sure that it’s my hand is raised on November 21st,” Canelo said via fighthype.com.
Just what Canelo means when he says he’ll do anything to try and win makes you wonder what he would do. Will Canelo nailing Cotto with low blows, hitting him with elbows and head-butting him if things don’t go his way? When a fighter says they’re willing to “Whatever it takes in the ring,” it suggests they could be willing to absolutely anything.
I just hope the referee working the fight has his eyes open so that we don’t see Cotto getting fouled left and right when he starts dominating the fight. The last thing we need is to see Cotto get knocked out with a low blow or an elbow to the head.
Cotto’s trainer Freddie Roach thinks that Canelo lacks the dedication needed for him to beat Cotto. Roach says he’s seen Canelo train when he was at his gym in the past getting ready for several of his fights, and he didn’t like what he saw from Canelo.
Roach sees Canelo as a fighter who lacks the dedication to work hard enough to win. Roach didn’t come right out and say that Canelo is lazy, but his comments about him lacking dedication pretty much means the same thing.
“I’m preparing very hard so I’ll have my hand raised on the day,” Canelo said. “I will be ready for. If it turns out to [be a war] or any other form of fight, I’ll be ready.”
I don’t think Cotto is crazy enough to try and brawl with a guy that will outweigh him by as much as 15 pounds on November 21st. Cotto weighed in at 160lbs for the 30-day weigh-in compared to Canelo’s 167.8. The difference is Canelo looked like he drained down to get to the 167.8. Cotto looked bone dry for his 30-day weigh-in. He does not have to lose weight to get down close to their 155lb catch-weight. It’s going to be effortless for Cotto to make the weight.
I wish I could say the same thing for Canelo. I think he’s really struggling in cutting weight. He obviously watching what he eats and working out like a dog. If Canelo’s real weight is 175-180, then he’s going to need to really drain himself of water weight the final week before their fight.
Putting the 20 pounds back on in 24 hours before the fight is going to be a real hardship for his system. When you lose 20 pounds of water weight in 7 days, and then put the water weight back on in 24 hours before the fight, it’s really hard on your body. You see that reflected in a fighter being sluggish and tired after only three or four rounds. Canelo will need to get a knockout early otherwise he’s going to be in danger of gassing out.
“I intend to write another chapter in the story of my career on November 21st and all that I see for myself is victory.”
I wouldn’t get so confident if I was Canelo. He’s looked really bad in his three major fights of his career, and he arguably lost all three of them against Mayweather, Trout and Lara. I had Canelo losing to all of them, and then getting gift decisions. I rate Cotto as being a better fighter than Lara and Trout. For that reason, I think the chances are very high that Cotto will win this fight next month and give Canelo a boxing lesson.
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