Miguel Cotto was in attendance for Canelo Alvarez’s thrilling, brutal knockout of James Kirkland on May 9, and he’s reportedly already signed a term sheet to face Alvarez in the fall provided he successfully defends his WBC middleweight title June 6 vs. Daniel Geale.
Miguel Cotto reps are here for #CaneloKirkland to check things out. They have signed term sheet for Cotto-Canelo this fall if both win.
— Dan Rafael (@danrafaelespn) May 10, 2015
It appears that Cotto-Canelo is full steam ahead, regardless of what happens with Gennady “GGG” Golovkin, the mandatory challenger for Cotto’s belt. If Golovkin doesn’t agree to a “step-aside” deal, it’s likely the WBC will strip Cotto of his belt if he doesn’t defend it vs. the Kazakh knockout artist.
First though, Cotto must get by Geale, who was knocked out in the third round by Golovkin in a 2014 title fight. Geale is a former middleweight champion who figures to fare better vs. Cotto, a natural welterweight who defeated Sergio Martinez for the crown at a 159-pound catch weight. He will face Geale at 157 pounds on June 6. If Geale upsets Cotto, there will be talk of Alvarez jumping into Cotto’s place and taking on Golovkin. At this point that seems premature even if Alvarez looked like one of the best fighters in the world Saturday night.
Oscar says Canelo will eventually fight GGG. #CaneloKirkland #boxing — Dan Rafael (@danrafaelespn) May 10, 2015
Oscar: 'The world knows Canelo-GGG will be a huge mega fight down the road.' #CaneloKirkland #boxing
— Dan Rafael (@danrafaelespn) May 10, 2015
One of the problems for making Alvarez-Golovkin so quickly is that Alvarez, while big for the junior middleweight division, hasn’t been in with real welterweights. It would be a major risk for the next big draw in boxing to take his first bout at 160 pounds against a destroyer with a 90 percent knockout rate.
In all likelihood, Cotto will get past Geale, face Alvarez, and then the winner will see Golovkin in 2016.
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