By Michael Collins: Miguel Cotto (37-2, 30 KO’s) is thinking seriously about moving up to 160 lbs to seek out a fourth division world title at that weight for his next fight if he doesn’t get a rematch with Floyd Mayweather Jr. Cotto is interested in taking on one of the current middleweight champions – Daniel Geale, Felix Sturm, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., Gennady Golovkin or Dmitry Pirog – for his next fight if one of those fighters are willing to agree to fight Cotto at a catchweight. Cotto’s been fighting at 154 for the past two years, but he’s small even for that weight class at 5’7″.
Cotto told Elnuevodia.com “It’s a very attractive offer for me…Yeah, it’s motivation. Be the first Puerto Rican in the range of champions to win titles in four weight classes…I just do it for pride…We will agree and if they are willing to do a catch weight I have no problems.”
It’s pretty much a given that Cotto won’t have any problems getting one of the middleweight champions to fight him even at a catchweight, because the lure of a big payday in a fight against Cotto will be too hard to turn down. The only issue that Cotto has right now is the availability for these fighters. He may have to wait if he wants to take on the someone like Sergio Martinez or Chavez Jr., because those two fighters are meeting on September 15th in a pay-per-view bout. Cotto wants to fight on December 1st, and that’s asking a lot of Chavez Jr. or Martinez to be back in the ring that quickly after what will likely be a grueling fight in September.
Cotto ideally needs to fight Mayweather Jr. in December but that’s not likely to happen because Mayweather Jr. will be getting out of jail in late August, and he’ll likely be in terrible shape from having been locked up for some long. Mayweather Jr. wasn’t happy with his performance against Cotto last May, so he’s not likely to be in a big hurry to fight Cotto again unless he’s in top shape. It’s about Mayweather Jr. wanting to show boxing fans that he’s better than what he showed against Cotto.