Canelo Alvarez and Oscar De La Hoya made a play to fight on May 2nd against Miguel Cotto. It never came to light. In that span, many feel the pressure that was applied by Canelo for the May 2nd date played a role in a fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao actually agreeing to fight.
While De La Hoya didn’t get Canelo to fight on May 2nd, he’s ok with that because Canelo will be fighting James Kirkland the week after in a packed Minute Maid Park in Houston on May 9th.
“Saul and I we have a plan,” De La Hoya told ESPN Deportes. “We wanted to fight on May 2nd to celebrate a historic day in Mexico history in Las Vegas. But we told everyone that if Pacquiao-Mayweather was made then we would change our date to the week after.”
Plan B is James Kirkland on May 9th with a likely lead in being the Mayweather-Pacquiao replay on HBO. De La Hoya feels it a win-win for the fans.
“So right now we are in plan B with HBO. We have the venue and a date confirmed, May 9th at the Minute Maid Park in Houston. So it will be a treat for the fans to watch Mayweather-Pacquiao the week before they see Canelo,” explained De La Hoya.
While Canelo-Cotto didn’t come about for May, De La Hoya is leaving the door open for the second half of 2015.
“We still want Canelo-Cotto because it will be a great battle,” said De La Hoya of the clash. “It’ll be great for the Mexican-Puerto Rico rivalry like Chavez-Rosario and Sanchez-Gomez. The fight between Canelo and Cotto has to happen because the public demands it.”
Canelo Alvarez has been in a lot of big fights early on in his career, but some feel that a change in the corner is due. De La Hoya disagrees.
“Canelo is young and still has a lot to learn at the age of 24,” explained De La Hoya. “I think he has a good corner, and they were there for tough fights that nobody thought Canelo would take like against Trout and Lara, and Canelo won with them.”
Should Canelo be victorious, De La Hoya feels the fights will only get bigger with Cotto and even a Floyd Mayweather rematch.
After Kirkland than Cotto then he will probably gain a lot more experience that a rematch with Mayweather would be more interesting. Canelo is here for the long haul.”
