Miguel Cotto has expressed little interest in a fight that boxing fans around the world want to see-a middleweight unification fight against Gennady "GGG" Golovkin. Instead Cotto is working on a deal to fight IBF junior middleweight champion Cornelius "K-9" Bundrage in June. Not only is that fight an underwhelming alternative to bouts with Canelo Alvarez and Golovkin, it might not even happen.
When Cotto left Top Rank to join Roc Nation Sports, he destroyed his relationship with Bob Arum, Top Rank's CEO. In an effort to possibly sabotage Cotto's bout with K-9, Top Rank is engaging in discussions to pit Timothy Bradley against K-9 instead, leaving Cotto out in the cold.
"We've concluded and we're just waiting to get the dates from HBO," Arum said of a Bradley-Bundrage bout. When asked whom Cotto might fight if Top Rank swipes Bundrage from their grasp, Arum threw a jab at Cotto's adviser Gaby Penagaricano.
"Well let him fight Penagaricao," Arum joked.
Golovkin is already signed on to fight Willie Monroe Jr., but he's one of the sport's most active champions. He desperately wants to fight Cotto, and with almost every big name tied up, there may be no choice for the Puerto Rican WBC champ to postpone his next fight yet again, and prepare to face Golovkin when he's ready to fight a third time.
Golovkin, of course, must first get by Monroe Jr. Although he's mostly unknown, Golovkin said he can't be taken lightly because of his southpaw style.
"We chose Monroe because he is young and is a very interesting fighter," Golovkin said. "He's a good mover and he isn't scared to fight. It will bring a new challenge to me. If you look at his last fight, it was a good fight. It's going to be a good fight for me because he's a mover and a lefty; I think it will be a good test for me."
If Cotto decides to wait, negotiations with Golovkin's handlers shouldn't be any sort of obstacle for what would be one of the biggest fights of 2015.
"We'll make the terms very attractive for Cotto. We would make a lot of concessions to get that fight," Golovkin's promoter Tom Loeffler told ESPN after his fighter defeated Martin Murray by TKO in Monte Carlo.
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