Cotto-Alvarez could be perfect tonic for fight fans
— -- LAS VEGAS -- For five years, boxing fans begged for their generation's summit meeting of greatness between pound-for-pound kings Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. They finally climbed into a boxing ring against each other on May 2 and delivered ... well, not much.
It was an overpriced -- a record $100 on pay-per-view -- and colossal disappointment inside the ring that failed to come even remotely close to the sky-high expectations. In many ways the boxing world is still smarting over that fight, a disaster in every way except financially for those who stood to get rich from the record-breaking numbers.
Six months later, the bad taste left by Mayweather-Pacquiao still lingers, but a potential tonic looms when lineal middleweight champion Miguel Cotto makes his second defense against former unified junior middleweight titlist Canelo Alvarez on Saturday night (HBO PPV, 9 ET) at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.
The heavily anticipated fight, contracted at a catchweight of 155 pounds, has a strong chance to be everything Mayweather-Pacquiao was not: an exciting, passion-filled battle for the ages between two of boxing's best and most popular fighters, who usually stand and deliver a real fight. Even with Cotto being stripped of his sanctioning organization belt this week in a dispute with the WBC over the exorbitant $300,000 sanctioning fee it demanded -- Alvarez agreed to pay up and can win the vacant strap -- it has done nothing to diminish the excitement or expectations for a fight that undoubtedly is the year's most anticipated, aside from the May 2 mess.
Alvarez (45-1-1, 32 KOs) pointedly promised that fans would not be disappointed by Saturday's fight.
"This is a guarantee. Without a doubt, this is a fight," Alvarez said through a translator. "We are both coming to win. We are both going to fight. We are both going to lay it on the line, and without a doubt, this is a fight for real."
Said Cotto: "This fight sells itself. Everybody should know what to expect from Canelo and what kind of fight they can expect from me.
"All I have to say is that I am ready for the fight. I know that Canelo is ready, too. Let's give the fans the fight they need from us."
Both have regularly given fans exciting fights, and their styles are made for each other.
A lock for the International Boxing Hall of Fame, Cotto (40-4, 33 KOs) is perhaps not what he once was, but he has looked reborn during his past three fights -- all knockout wins -- since hiring seven-time trainer of the year Freddie Roach, himself already enshrined in the Hall of Fame.
It was in their second fight together last year that Cotto, 35, surprisingly dominated and knocked out Sergio Martinez in the 10th round to pull the upset and win the middleweight championship to become the first Puerto Rican fighter to win world titles in four weight classes -- middleweight, junior middleweight, welterweight and junior welterweight.
Cotto aims for another big win -- he says beating Alvarez would "probably" be the biggest of his career -- before wrapping it up. He said he will retire within a year.
"I don't want to be in the sport for that much longer. I see two or three more fights and that will be all," Cotto said. "[But] no matter what I have to do to beat Canelo, I am going to do it because I prepared myself for war. I prepared myself for a good fight and I am going to do my best. This fight cannot be decided by one punch. I am going to use my whole arsenal to beat Canelo."
Alvarez, 25, is Mexico's most popular fighter and has developed into a powerful force who is entering his prime and has won three fights in a row since a disappointing and one-sided 2013 decision loss to Mayweather in the second-highest grossing fight in boxing history, behind only Mayweather-Pacquiao.
Alvarez was just 23 when he lost to Mayweather and said he learned valuable lessons from the fight.
"All of my fights I learned something. There are some important fights, there are some difficult fights, but with all these combined fights you gain experience, and with that experience I'm going to display that on [Saturday]," Alvarez said. "I'm not worried about the pressure. I learn every day. I come to win. I train every day to learn more, and every day I learn, and I'm here to win."
In May, Alvarez continued to show that he is a star who can carry boxing post-Mayweather and Pacquiao by drawing a boisterous crowd of 31,588 to Houston's Minute Maid Park for a wildly entertaining fight against fearsome puncher James Kirkland, whom Alvarez drilled in the third round for a leading knockout of the year contender.
"We are very confident in Canelo's abilities. He is someone with no limitations and will go down in history as legend after his victory on [Saturday]," said trainer Eddy Reynoso.
Cotto and Alvarez are the epitome of fighters who let their fists do the talking. They rarely engage in trash talk and are generally quite respectful of their opponents. So if there has been anyone to stir things up, it has been Roach, a veteran of needling the opponent and predicting knockouts. It has been no different for this fight.
"It's going to be a great fight, and we are looking for a knockout in this fight, and we will be the first person to knock out Alvarez," Roach said.
He has not been very complimentary of Alvarez, either.
"I watched a lot of tape on him. He's a good puncher with a very good right hand but he does the same thing over and over, very basic. I'm not his biggest fan," Roach said. "His defense is terrible. He follows you wherever you go. He's like a robot. If you use angles on him he'll be lost. He has very bad timing."
Adding to the anticipation of Cotto-Alvarez is its place in the pantheon of boxing's most intense nationalistic rivalry: Puerto Rico versus Mexico. It has produced many memorable and significant fights, including Salvador Sanchez-Wilfredo Gomez, Julio Cesar Chavez Sr.-Hector Camacho Sr., Felix Trinidad-Oscar De La Hoya, and Cotto's two rumbles with Antonio Margarito.
"For Latinos all over the world, this is our Super Bowl," said De La Hoya, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions and Alvarez's promoter. "This is an event that not one Hispanic, not one Latino is going to miss. That is how important this event is to us. Puerto Rico versus Mexico is like no other event for those countries. This is like our Super Bowl, that's how important this event is."
The fighters are aware of what their countrymen expect from them.
"I understand the magnitude of this fight and what it means for the history of Puerto Rico versus Mexico," Alvarez said. "I know this fight will go down as one of the most exciting and explosive nights in the famed rivalry and in the sport of boxing.
"I am very prepared for this fight. I have full confidence in my trainers and their approach to this fight. People can expect a great fight that will be talked about for years to come. I am doing this for my fans, for my country and for history."
Cotto has attempted to somewhat downplay the national rivalry aspect of the fight, but he also knows what it means, especially after going through all the hype for his two memorable fights with Margarito.
"The Mexican-Puerto Rican rivalry is one of the biggest in boxing," Cotto said. "It's in our hands to present the fight at the same level of intensity everyone expects. Mexico is a lot bigger than Puerto Rico, but we have something in our boxers that make us able to compete at the same level. This fight is another chapter in the legendary rivalry. It is a high-level fight with two great fighters that fans have wanted to see fight for a long time. It will be epic."
After Mayweather-Pacquiao, fight fans deserve a bout to be just that.
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