A Trout win over Cotto could mess up Saul Alvarez’s plans

A Trout win over Cotto could mess up Saul Alvarez's plansBy Bill Phanco: WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez will be attending this Saturday’s fight between Miguel Cotto and WBA World junior middleweight champion Austin Trout at Madison Square Garden with the hopes of facing Cotto if he wins the fight. That’s the opponent that Alvarez badly wants, but he may not get him of Trout has something to say about it.

Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer said this to RingTV about a Trout victory over Cotto: “I think we have to see what fashion in which Trout wins, and then we’ll make an assessment on it, and I will have to talk with Canelo.”

In other words, Alvarez may not fight Trout if he beats Cotto. I suspect that it doesn’t matter how good or bad Trout looks in the fight. If he beats Cotto, I don’t see Golden Boy allowing Alvarez to take the fight with Trout, because he’s all wrong for their young, flat-footed, easy to hit champion Alvarez. If you look at the types of fighters that they’ve been putting in with Alvarez – slow, older, stationary and smaller fighters – it’s clear that Trout is not the ideal opponent. In fact, Trout is the opposite of the types of guys that Golden Boy has fed to Alvarez, which is why I don’t see Trout getting the fight even if he destroys Cotto.

Trout needs to give Cotto a real pounding to ensure he gets the decision

Trout needs to give Cotto a real pounding to ensure he gets the decisionBy Paul Grunich, photo by Robert Tibuni – WBA World junior middleweight champion Austin Trout (25-0, 14 KO’s) may be the champion as he enters his fight this Saturday night against former three division world champion Miguel Cotto (37-3, 30 KO’s), but Trout is going to be fighting in front of pretty much mostly Cotto’s fans at the Madison Square Garden, New York, New York, USA.

What this means is that the fans will be cheering every punch that Cotto throws, even the ones where he misses his target. The judges will no doubt be influenced by the pro-Cotto fans, and this could lead to Trout losing a lot of rounds where he appears to win them. This could be big problem for Trout int his fight. He’s also starting off as the much less popular fighter of the two, and that’s a potential problem as well.

Cotto is the recognizable name, the star if you will, whereas Trout is just a young, slick fighter with a ton of athletic skills going for him. Think of Trout as the future of the junior middleweight division, along with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. Even if Cotto wins this fight on Saturday, he’s not going to be fighting for too much longer because the competition is catching up to him, and he mainly wants to fight just the big names in the sport.

It’s surprising that he’s taking the Trout fight, because Trout isn’t well know. But the likely reason that Cotto is taking this fight is so that he can try and pick up a title, and then use that title to get a bigger cut of the financial pie in a unification bout against the WBC junior middleweight champion Saul Alvarez in 2013. Cotto may need a title in his possession to get a bigger cut against Alvarez.

Trout: I have to keep Cotto on the outside

By Paul Grunich: WBA World junior middleweight champion Austin Trout (25-0, 14 KO’s) isn’t taking any chances with the hard hitting Miguel Cotto (37-3, 30 KO’s) on Saturday night in their fight at Madison Square Garden in New York. Trout plans on using his jab to keep the 32-year-old Cotto at a safe distance where he’s a lot less harmful. Trout doesn’t want to get in any wars with Cotto where he could get lucky and score a knockout from one of his big power shots.

Pacquiao picks Cotto to beat Trout

Pacquiao picks Cotto to beat TroutBy Rob Smith: For what it’s worth, Manny Pacquiao sees Miguel Cotto (37-3, 30 KO’s) as coming out on top against WBA World junior middleweight champion Austin Trout (25-0, 14 KO’s) on December 1st at Madison Square Garden, in New York. Pacquiao knows Cotto pretty well from having trounced him in a 12th round knockout back in 2009.

However, Pacquiao probably doesn’t have clue one about how good Trout is and at this point in Pacquiao’s career he would likely struggle badly and lose to a boxer/slugger like Trout. That would be a very tough fight for Pacquiao at any point in his career, especially now when he seems to have lost his ability to move and fight hard for three minutes of every round.

When asked who he thought would win the Cotto-Trout fight during Tuesday’s telephone conference with the press, Pacquiao said “I think Cotto will win the fight. Not sure by decision or knockout. Better chance for a knockout but not sure.”

It would be definitely good for Pacquiao if Cotto wins because Bob Arum has run out of big names to match him up against and he’s resorting to putting him in rematches. If Cotto loses this fight to Trout then that presumably takes away one of the biggest money fights that Pacquiao can get off the table.

Cotto vs Trout: Cotto’s lack of size will hurt him against Trout

Cotto vs Trout: Cotto's lack of size will hurt him against TroutBy Rob Smith: Boxing star Miguel Cotto (37-3, 30 KO’s) has the experience going for him against WBA World junior middleweight champion Austin Trout (25-0, 14 KO’s) but that might not be enough for Cotto to get the win when the two of them meet up on December 1st at the Madison Square Garden in New York, New York. Cotto is dealing with youth, speed, size and just pure athleticism against Trout. I mean, let’s face it; Trout is the better athlete and you can see that just from watching one round of action from one of his fights.

Trout is the more skilled fighter and just looks natural. In contrast, Cotto looks like a fighter wearing a bad pair of shoes that are too small for him. It’s pretty painful to watch Cotto move around the ring, because he looks like he’s on a pair of pair of ice skates for the first time and isn’t really sure of his footwork. Trout isn’t someone that Cotto is going to be able to overpower like the guys he’s beaten in the past.

The problem Cotto will have is Trout’s defense and size. He doesn’t get hit a lot because he’s got such long arms and knows how to keep his opposition on the outside. And Cotto isn’t going to win this fight by jabbing Trout. Cotto may have a good jab, but he can’t win this fight with that weapon because Trout has a lot more than that in his arsenal. Cotto is going to be forced to take chances and it’s going to be difficult for him because of how elusive Trout is.

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez: “Canelo wants Mayweather and Cotto in 2013”

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez: “Canelo wants Mayweather and Cotto in 2013”By Joseph Herron: On November 10th, at the Wynn Las Vegas, an impactful contest between the top two WBC Junior Middleweight contenders will take place, which theoretically should determine the next challenger for the incumbent title holder.

But according to Golden Boy advisor and Hall of Fame matchmaker Don Chargin, it’s no guarantee that we’ll see Canelo Alvarez face either Erislandy Lara or Vanes Martirosyan anytime soon.

“There are a few fighters that we’re considering for Canelo’s next opponent,” claims the legendary boxing promoter. “But all Canelo has on the brain lately is a fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr.”

While the great Don Chargin acknowledges that massive scrutiny will more than likely arise among critics and detractors if the current WBC Junior Middleweight Champion refuses to face the eventual November 10th victor, the six decade boxing advocate doesn’t see any merit in an overtly negative analysis.

Miguel Cotto vs. Austin Trout: Will Junito be in trouble on Dec 1st?

Miguel Cotto vs. Austin Trout: Will Junito be in trouble on Dec 1st?By Joseph Herron – With less than two months until the highly anticipated face-off between three division world champion Miguel Angel Cotto (37-3, 30 KOs) and Austin “No Doubt” Trout (25-0, 14 KOs), many fight scribes and boxing fans are concerned that the Caguas warrior picked on the wrong Junior Middleweight title holder.

The current WBA Junior Middleweight Champ is quite certain the future Hall of Famer made a miscalculated decision in selecting him as an “opponent”.

“First of all, Miguel Cotto is a warrior who has never backed away from any challenge, and I’ve always had the utmost respect for him as one of the best representatives of the sport,” admits Austin Trout. “I am very grateful for the opportunity to fight him on December 1st at Madison Square Garden. But with that said…he messed up.”

“He shouldn’t have done it, because I’m going to win this fight. I honestly don’t see how I can lose against Miguel Cotto.”

Although the Las Cruces, New Mexico resident is always confident before a big fight, Austin seems eerily self-assured that he will indeed be successful on December 1st.

“Without taking anything away from Miguel Cotto, I just feel that I will be the faster, stronger, taller, and better technical fighter on fight night. I believe that I have better attributes on many different levels. I know he is a very good puncher and a smart fighter with a lot of experience in the ring, but he’s also 5’7” with a short reach.”

Cotto says he wasn’t offered $13 million for Pacquiao rematch

Cotto says he wasn't offered $13 million for Pacquiao rematchBy Michael Collins: Former WBA World junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto is saying that he was never offered the $13 million to fight Manny Pacquiao in a rematch, according to ESPN. Cotto claims that he was given the exact same deal as he did when he fought Pacquiao at a catchweight of 145 lbs back in 2009. Because the offer was the same for a rematch, Cotto decided not to fight Pacquiao a second time. Cotto also didn’t like the idea of fighting Pacquiao at a catchwweight of 150 pounds, which would have likely benefited more than Cotto.

Cotto said in an interview by Dan Rafael at ESPN “The only offer Top Rank ever made us was the same money as in 2009. [Arum] made the same offer he made in 2009, and we found it kind of funny. That was the reason we decided not to face Pacquiao. That, and they also wanted me to go down to 150 pounds and given him the same advantage that they gave Pacquiao in 2009.”

The last time it was a catchweight of 145 lbs, but now it’s a little higher at 150. However, Cotto has filled out since then and it’s a lot harder for him to boil down to make weight. It’s not all that surprising that Cotto didn’t want to have to deal with another catchweight after the bad experience he had the last time he fought Pacquiao.