HBO's Jim Lampley spoke candidly with ESNews about whom Floyd Mayweather Jr. will fight next, and predicted that WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto will indeed get the call on May 2.
Cotto had been linked for months to Saul "Canelo" Alvarez, who was desperate to stage the bout on May 2, the weekend of Cinco De Mayo. Alvarez is hellbent on reclaiming the Mexican holiday weekends for his countrymen, and saw a fight with Cotto as a chance to rekindle the boxing rivalry between Mexico and Puerto Rico.
To dethrone Mayweather's dominance on Mexican holidays, Alvarez needed a big-time opponent. Cotto was that fighter, but speculation is rampant that Mayweather, who could fight Manny Pacquiao on May 2, is eyeing Cotto instead.
Mayweather and his "Money Team" cohorts have pointed at Top Rank CEO Bob Arum for some time as the reason for a lack of a super fight against Pacquiao, but Cotto is also associated with Arum. Cotto isn't directly promoted by Arum though, which was how they got a deal done to fight 2012.
That fight was one of Mayweather's most competitive, as he left the ring with a bloodied nose.
Amir Khan is another fighter that has been calling out Mayweather for months, only to have Mayweather give him the cold shoulder. Khan has attempted several methods of getting Mayweather to sign the dotted line. He's been respectful of Floyd, appealed to his business sense by bringing up his fan base, and even tried to goad him by saying Pacquiao would give him more problems.
While Khan does have a large fan base, Cotto is the bigger star and also has a prestigious belt to fight for. Few in the boxing industry are as knowledgeable and connected as Lampley, so his confident statement is strong foreshadowing.
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