Mayweather vs. Cotto Results: Junito a Better Fight for Canelo Than Money May

Saul Alvarez emerged from his win over a shot "Sugar" Shane Mosley last Saturday hoping for (or even expecting) a fight with someone from the main event at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

"Canelo" wanted a date with Floyd Mayweather Jr., as much for the payday as for the prestige that comes with competing against one of the two best fighters in the world. What he should and (if the powers-that-be in boxing are smart) will get is a bout with Miguel Cotto, the man from whom Money Mayweather wrested the Junior Middleweight title.

Junito may not be the one that Canelo wants, but for his sake as well as that of the sport, it's the one that Oscar De La Hoya and Golden Boy Promotions should pursue.

If there's anything we learned from Saturday night's fights, it's that Alvarez, the 21-year-old Mexican phenom, isn't ready for Mayweather yet. He's bigger, stronger and significantly younger than Floyd, but also happens to be much slower and lacking in the necessary seasoning against elite competition. Sugar Shane may be a big name, a Hall-of-Famer even, but at 40 years old and with a son Canelo's age, is little more than a shell of his former self.

To jump from a has-been to arguably the premier pugilist on the planet is an ambitious leap, especially for a kid who's only recently reached the legal drinking age in the US.

Cotto wouldn't necessarily be that much easier of an opponent for Alvarez, per se, though he'd represent a more reasonable intermediate step up the fighting food chain, at the very least. Junito's done plenty to shake the notion that he's no longer a top-notch fighter since taking a knee against Antonio Margarito, including standing in with Manny Pacquiao, exacting revenge against Margarito and (most recently) giving Money May the fight of his life.

By doling out damage to the seemingly invincible Mayweather, Cotto proved that he's a world-class fighter, even if he's not yet deserving of membership in the exclusive club in which Mayweather and Pacquiao have long had their battle lines drawn.

Cotto also showed that he's capable (more than likely) of defeating a precocious up-and-comer like Canelo. That's not to say that Junito would necessarily win in a landslide, but rather that he and Canelo would give the boxing public a more evenly-matched fight, as far as styles and overall skills are concerned.

More importantly, a Junito-Canelo bout means that there's one less combatant on the market who might reasonably come between Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.

Because, as the boxing world has come to learn, there's always something (or someone) ready, willing and able to postpone the "Fight of the Century." Money May's own transgressions have been his undoing this time, landing him in jail for 90 days after allegedly attacking the mother of three of his children.

The hope, as Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports discusses so poignantly, is that time spent in solitude, away from his legions of "yes" men and mountain of frivolous wealth, will give him the time and clarity to reflect on his life.

With that, Floyd will hopefully emerge from prison with a greater willingness to compromise, to split the potential prize money with Pacquiao more evenly, to set aside his distaste for Bob Arum to talk shop (or allow his handlers to take care of that unpleasant bit of business) and pave the way for the fight that everyone wants to see.

And if Canelo's not on the table to distract either one from the task at hand, all the better.

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