Is Miguel Cotto afraid of Canelo ‘Saul’ Alvarez? Is he purposely avoiding the Mexican boxer?
A Cotto vs. Alvarez tiff would have materialized had negotiations not bogged down but it looks like we haven’t seen the last of that possible bout. This could happen after Cotto’s upcoming fight against Daniel Geale this coming weekend where the Puerto Rican boxer is a heavy favorite to come out on top.
It has been almost a year since Cotto last fought. His last fight came in June 7, 2014 where Cotto faced Sergio Martinez and won the WBC World Middleweight belt via a ninth-round corner retirement.
Despite the long lay-off, critics believe that Cotto will dominate Geale who is coming off a unanimous decision win over Jarrod Fletcher. An upset by Geale is not ruled out but right now, all seems to point at an eventual Cotto victory for the fight which is not expected to go the distance.
Hence, the looming mega fight between Cotto and Alvarez is once again up in the air. If so, this would not be the first time the match would be up in the air.
Back in December, the camps of both Cotto and Alvarez were in negotiations for a fight which would have happened on May 2.
Alvarez wanted to get a crack at Cotto’s belt but unfortunately the Puerto Rican’s mind was somewhere else. It was during this period that Cotto was being considered to face off with Mayweather, long before the Mayweather-Pacquiao match was made official.
As mentioned earlier, talks about a Cotto-Alvarez fight bogged down leading to both fighters facing separate opponents.
Alvarez is coming off an impressive KO win over James Kirkland last May 9, 2015 which pushed his boxing record to 45-1-1. 32 of those wins came via KO and his only loss came at the hands of Floyd Mayweather Jr. in September 14, 2014.
Now, it is Cotto’s turn against Geale. Assuming he does win as many predict, expect the focus to be on the much talked about mega fight involving the Puerto Rican and the Mexican. The fight has been long delayed and if the clamor continues, Cotto could be forced to pay more attention to it rather than take another year-long hiatus.
However, as HBO Sports president puts it, the focus right now is to finish the Cotto vs. Geale match this coming Saturday.
“Look, that’s obviously a great fight (Canelo-Cotto). I think we have to get through Saturday night. We’ve seen when you look past opponents that bad things can happen. I’m focused on Saturday night. I know Miguel and Daniel Geale are focused on Saturday night, and then we’ll have that conversation. Canelo-Cotto is a fantastic fight; no one would deny that. If we can get there, great, but let’s get through Saturday night and see what happens,” Hershman was quoted as saying in an interview with the Thaboxingvoice.com.