WEEKEND REVIEW Miguel Cotto blasts his way towards Saul Alvarez mega-fight

The next mega-fight

After Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao there arenโ€™t too many mega-fights out there in boxing. But once Miguel Cotto blasted out Australiaโ€™s Daniel Geale to defend the WBC middleweight title on Saturday night, he had a message for Mexican idol Saul Alvarez. โ€œLetโ€™s do it,โ€ declared Cotto flush with the thrill of victory.

Both can punch, they fight at the same weight and while Floyd Mayweatherโ€™s performance against Manny Pacquiao was one for boxing purists, more technical style than knockout power, Cotto and โ€œCaneloโ€ Alvarez are quite the opposite. Both are aggressive, both like to go forward and that combination is guaranteed to be explosive. Plus it’s a genuinely hard fight to predict.

Cottoโ€™s left hook

After defeats to Austin Trout and Floyd Mayweather in rapid succession, Miguel Cottoโ€™s star seemed to be on the wane. But he linked up with Pacquiaoโ€™s trainer Freddie Roach and in his recent run of fights has rediscovered his zest of old and notably his fabled left hook. He used that weapon to hurt Daniel Geale to the body, aimed lowed and then the left Cotto left hook sent the Australian flying beneath the bottom rope for the first knockdown. He wasnโ€™t going to escape from that.

Watch HBO’s highlights here:

The catchweight

Much of the talk before the Cotto-Geale fight was the catchweight the Puerto Ricanโ€™s team had stipulated. The middleweight limit is 160lbs, a weight Cotto has never reached. This was agreed for 157lbs, tough for Geale, the bigger man, to make. That favoured Cotto and interestingly he scaled, below 154lbs, the light-middleweight limit. Clearly this is where Cotto is most comfortable and it also leaves him the broadest possible range options. Saul Alvarez has been fighting at just over light-middleweight and Floyd Mayweather has fought there beforeโ€ฆ

Coming soon

There is plenty of action coming up next weekend. Deontay Wilder, who won a portion of the heavyweight crown, the WBC title, at the start of this year, makes his first defence of the belt on June 13. The opponent, Eric Molina, is not up to much. Chris Arreola knocked him out in a round in 2012. Expect the power-punching Wilder to restart his knockout streak.

Thereโ€™s interest in New York, where Nicholas Walters, a future rival for Vasyl Lomachenko defends his WBA featherweight title against Miguel Marriaga, plus the next Puerto Rican superstar, the talented Felix Verdejo fights Ivan Najera on that same bill also on June 13.

Meanwhile in England Lee Haskins will tilt for the recognition he craves, appearing on terrestrial television with Channel 5 when he fights Ryosuke Iwasa for an interim bantamweight title courtesy of the IBF.

HERE PROMOTER OSCAR DE LA HOYA EXPLAINS WHY FIGHTS WITH ALVAREZ, COTTO AND GENNADY GOLOVKIN CAN BE MADE

MEET BOXING’S NEXT SUPERSTAR, SAUL ALVAREZ HERE

Photo: Tom Hogan/Hoganphotos/Roc Nation Sports/Miguel Cotto Promotions

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