Miguel Cotto to fight Canelo and possibly GGG

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    Miguel CottoTrainer Freddie Roach spoke to FightHype.com ten days before his latest high-profile student is set to make his next appearance. Miguel Cotto (39-4, 32 KO’s) will defend his WBC World middleweight title against Daniel Geale (31-3, 16 KO’s) on June 6th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, but Roach dared to look past this bout and into the future at the behest of the interviewer.

    The Puerto Rican Cotto completes a trio of three of the sport’s most exciting fighters alongside the young Mexican Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez (45-1-1, 32 KO’s) and Kazakhstan’s Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin (33-0, 30 KO’s). These men, who also have some of the highest profiles and reputations in the game, are yet to face off against one another in any particular order.

    The timing perhaps wasn’t right before now. Canelo has only recently strayed above the junior-middleweight limit of 154 lb., whilst Cotto, despite being the lineal champion in most fans’s eyes, has competed at middleweight just the once in his title winning effort last June against Sergio Martinez. Golovkin has fought at 160 lbs. since he turned professional and now the other two have caught up, calls for these three to face off have become louder.

    Golovkin and Canelo are both coming off tremendous knockout wins against Willie Monroe Jr. and James Kirkland respectively, leaving them free to decide who their next viable opponents could be. Cotto has a former two-time world champion to get through next weekend but after that, assuming he is successful, he will also have an open ledger to fill.

    Roach broke into a smile as the interviewer asked him what the future may hold for Cotto after June 6th. He, more than any other outsider, is aware of the what lies ahead for his fighter. Canelo and Golovkin bring with them huge financial possibilities but they are also Cotto’s two toughest options. Roach knows which road he would rather take.

    “I would love to fight Canelo next; that’s my dream fight. Whoever beats Canelo will probably go to Triple-G next because that’s the natural, that’s what’s out there.”

    When you look at the entire picture Canelo has to be the preferred option for Roach. Despite a deep professional resume compiled at the tender age of twenty-four, he lacks the power and the technical know-how that Golovkin has become deified for; attributes the eastern-European honed over a long and successful amateur career. Canelo learned on the job after making his debut at fifteen, which is a large part of the reason he has become such a celebrated figure in his native Mexico. Beneath Floyd Mayweather Jr, Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto, Canelo is the next biggest name out there and as such brings with him a hefty pot of gold to the negotiating table.

    When these factors combine with the national rivalry between Puerto Rico and Mexico that this fight would embody, it makes it an even bigger occasion on that side of the globe than if it were just two top level guys. The choice becomes an obvious one.

    Golovkin’s fan base cannot compare to Canelo’s even though it has grown exponentially since his stateside debut three years ago. He sells out arenas on both the east and west coasts and the viewing figures for his fights have been consistently hitting the seven-figure mark as of late. If he has to wait, he will just continue blowing people away, which is what he will continue to do until his time comes, by which point he will have garnered more support, and hence more value to a big-money super fight.

    Presuming Cotto emerges victorious against Geale (which is no guarantee whatsoever) , and presuming he signs to fight Canelo next, whichever man wins will still face the prospect of having to fight the most daunting spectre in boxing afterwards. They may take a fight or even two in between, but if Golovkin keeps on winning, all roads lead to him. He has accumulated the status and profile that warrants big PPV events with him at the top of the bill. It’s just a question of who will drag their feet his way first; Cotto or Canelo?