Miguel Cotto won the WBC middleweight title in impressive fashion on June 7 vs. Sergio Martinez, placing himself in the running for just about any major name in the sport of boxing, including Floyd Mayweather Jr. While the two fought in 2012, with Mayweather winning convincingly in a competitive bout, the man who fought Martinez looked like a different beast.
In fact, Cotto was so impressive that Floyd's uncle Roger Mayweather considers him a bigger threat than his longtime foil Manny Pacquiao. Cotto got more ability, he's a better puncher, he's a brilliant guy. He's a brilliant puncher. Pacquiao has nothing of those movements," Roger Mayweather said of Cotto to Hustleboss.com.
Demetrius Andrade calls out Cotto
The resurgence of Cotto has coincided with his decision to hire Freddie Roach as his trainer, the same man who trains Pacquiao. "If the guy's comfortable with you, that's what it's all about," Roger Mayweather said.
Cotto is closely aligned with Bob Arum and Top Rank however, so a matchup with Mayweather is extremely unlikely. Another potential matchup of superstars, Cotto vs. Pacquiao, is most likely off the table as well. The two share Roach as a trainer, and Cotto's jump to middleweight makes a trip back down to 147 lbs. seem drastic. "I'm kind of glad that they're growing out of each other's weight classes, so I don't have to worry about it so much," Roach said.
The best scenario going forward for Cotto is a bout with Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez, who is scheduled to battle Erislandy Lara on July 12. If Canelo comes out of that match victorious and largely unscathed, he could be in line for a December showdown.
Todd DuBoef, president of Top Rank, said they were tentatively eyeing a December return for the new middleweight champion, and Canelo had hopes earlier this year of fighting three times in 2014. Also, relations have been thawing between Golden Boy (Canelo's promotion) and Top Rank. Golden Boy founder Oscar De La Hoya even compared a Cotto-Alvarez matchup to one of his own mega fights vs. Felix "Tito" Trinidad.
"July 12 is very important toward possibly seeing the pugilistic rivalry between Mexico and Puerto Rico once again. It would be Salvador [Sanchez] vs. [Wilfredo] Gomez, [Julio Cesar] Chavez Sr. vs [Edwin] Rosario, [Oscar] De La Hoya vs. [Felix] Trinidad. Huge!"
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