They’ve got next
Canelo or Cotto could get title shot
WBC PRESIDENT Mauricio Sulaiman says he has been assured by Miguel Cotto and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez that the winner of their Nov. 21 fight in Las Vegas will defend the WBC and Ring Magazine middleweight championship against the victor of Saturday’s night unification bout between Gennady Golovkin and David Lemieux at the Garden.
Golovkin (330, 30 KOs) put the WBO, IBO and WBC interim middleweight titles at stake against Lemieux (342, 31 KOs), who was defending his IBF title. Cotto is the recognized WBC middleweight champion after defeating Sergio Martinez at the Garden in 2014. He will be defending against Alvarez, a former junior middleweight champion.
The winner of Golovkin and Le mieux will become the mandatory challenger for the CottoCanelo winner, though there is no guarantee the mandated fight will happen.
“Cotto and Canelo have both assured me they will defend the WBC title against the winner of GolovkinLemieux,” Sulaiman said. “We look forward to that bout.”
The middleweight division is enjoying a renaissance of sorts. A sellout crowd was expected at the Garden for Golovkin’s unification fight with Lemieux. CottoCanelo will do big business in Las Vegas and might rival MayweatherPacquiao as the most anticipated fight of the year. It not only adds another chapter to the longstanding rivalry between Mexican and Puerto Rican boxers, but matches two of the sport’s most popular and talented boxers.
“It’s absolutely the fight of the year no question about it,” said Michael Yormark, president of Roc Nation. “It’s a fight that obviously fans around the world have been anticipating, a fight that will be action packed and will absolutely live up to expectations in every way.”
Alvarez says he is “craving” his fight with Cotto.
“I’m looking forward to it because I know it can go down in history as one of the great fights between Mexico and Puerto Rico and that’s what I’m looking forward to,” he said.
Not to be forgotten, Brooklyn middleweight Daniel Jacobs and Peter Quillin, will fight for Jacobs, WBA middleweight crown on Dec. 5 at Barclays Center. Should the winners between Golovkin-Lemieux and CottoCanelo fail to reach agreement, the JacobsQuillin victor could be in the mix for a payperview event.
“The middleweight division is in a good situation, a very interesting situation,” Golovkin said. “I want unification title. My goal is always about the middleweight division. There are three or four great fights in the future.”
The New York State Athletic Commission denied a request by the WBC to allow the referees to wear pink shirts during the two WBC titles fights Saturday night at the Garden. The pink shirts would have been worn as part of Breast Cancer Awareness month.
WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman made the request via email to NYSAC executive director David Berlin, who responded in part: “Our officials wear a standard outfit with a NYSAC patch. I must therefore deny the request.”