BEST-LAID PLANS

COTTO, one of the biggest draws in the sport, does not intend to close out his career quietly. He has been repeatedly vocal about wanting his last bout – likely on December 2 – to be a big one. Admittedly, any fight he is involved in is a big one, but he wants to face another star.

His trainer Roach has namedropped the winner of Canelo Alvarez’s mouth-watering September meeting with Gennady Golovkin as the number one pick for Cotto’s farewell clash, and that is not completely outside the realms of possibility. David Lemieux has also been mentioned (see Talking Point), and while that would be nowhere near as big as Canelo or Golovkin, it is still an excellent contest.

Of course, all this depends on Cotto getting past Kamegai, who enters this fight with a higher level of recent activity than Cotto – plus, he has nothing to lose and everything to gain.

His style is one that could wreak havoc on an ageing fighter who may have one eye off the ball. Indeed, back in 2012, Cotto was looking at a matchup with Canelo, and had to defeat underdog Austin Trout to set it up – he was widely outpointed by the tricky American.

Perhaps Cotto has learned from that mistake, and it is true that Kamegai’s style is in stark contrast to Trout’s. But, we won’t know until the first bell rings, and these are layers which make this bout all the more intriguing.