Fibroso
06-09-2015, 05:51 AM
Weight won't hinder Cotto-Alvarez boutNEW YORK -- An hour or so after middleweight champion Miguel Cotto laid waste to former unified titlist Daniel Geale in a rousing fourth-round knockout on Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, much of the discussion was about Cotto’s next assignment.
That will be a highly anticipated fall showdown -- exact date and venue to be determined -- against Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez, the former junior middleweight titleholder with whom Cotto (40-4, 33 KOs) had a deal agreed to even before he blew out Geale and before Alvarez (45-1-1, 32 KOs) knocked out James Kirkland in the third round in sensational fashion on May 9 in Houston.
But as huge as the Puerto Rico vs. Mexico collision will be as an HBO PPV event, Cotto, stoic as always, spoke of the showdown in a measured tone.
“That’s going to be just another fight,” Cotto said at his postfight news conference, flanked by Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach and Roc Nation Sports executive Michael Yormark, part of the team that signed Cotto to a promotional agreement earlier this year. “Canelo is going to be just another opponent, and we’re going to be ready for him.
“That’s going to be a great fight, a big fight, for us, for the whole world of boxing. But at the end of the road, for us, as a boxer, as a trainer, we’re just going to prepare ourselves to be ready for whatever Canelo has in mind for us.”
One important question about the fight is what will the contract maximum weight be? After all, Cotto won the title from Sergio Martinez by 10th-round knockout last June in a fight contract at 159 (one less than the 160-pound division limit), then Cotto insisted that Geale come down to 157 to fight him.
Alvarez has fought his last three fights, knockouts of Kirkland and Alfredo Angulo and a decision against Erislandy Lara, at contract maximums of 155, one over the junior middleweight limit.
“If he’s been fighting at 155 for his last three fights and I’ve been fighting in 159 against Martinez and my weight was 155 [and] I was fighting at 157 with Daniel Geale [and] my weight was 153.6, we can make it 155 with no problem,” Cotto said.
Unlike Geale, who had problems even making 160 before Cotto forced him down three more pounds, he and Alvarez are basically the same size. Neither would struggle to make 160 and both appear to be able to make 155 with little strain. So whatever specific weight they set for the fight, it likely will not significantly favor one man or the other.
That will be a highly anticipated fall showdown -- exact date and venue to be determined -- against Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez, the former junior middleweight titleholder with whom Cotto (40-4, 33 KOs) had a deal agreed to even before he blew out Geale and before Alvarez (45-1-1, 32 KOs) knocked out James Kirkland in the third round in sensational fashion on May 9 in Houston.
But as huge as the Puerto Rico vs. Mexico collision will be as an HBO PPV event, Cotto, stoic as always, spoke of the showdown in a measured tone.
“That’s going to be just another fight,” Cotto said at his postfight news conference, flanked by Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach and Roc Nation Sports executive Michael Yormark, part of the team that signed Cotto to a promotional agreement earlier this year. “Canelo is going to be just another opponent, and we’re going to be ready for him.
“That’s going to be a great fight, a big fight, for us, for the whole world of boxing. But at the end of the road, for us, as a boxer, as a trainer, we’re just going to prepare ourselves to be ready for whatever Canelo has in mind for us.”
One important question about the fight is what will the contract maximum weight be? After all, Cotto won the title from Sergio Martinez by 10th-round knockout last June in a fight contract at 159 (one less than the 160-pound division limit), then Cotto insisted that Geale come down to 157 to fight him.
Alvarez has fought his last three fights, knockouts of Kirkland and Alfredo Angulo and a decision against Erislandy Lara, at contract maximums of 155, one over the junior middleweight limit.
“If he’s been fighting at 155 for his last three fights and I’ve been fighting in 159 against Martinez and my weight was 155 [and] I was fighting at 157 with Daniel Geale [and] my weight was 153.6, we can make it 155 with no problem,” Cotto said.
Unlike Geale, who had problems even making 160 before Cotto forced him down three more pounds, he and Alvarez are basically the same size. Neither would struggle to make 160 and both appear to be able to make 155 with little strain. So whatever specific weight they set for the fight, it likely will not significantly favor one man or the other.