Miguel Cotto Plans to Lure Floyd Mayweather with Canelo Win, Says Freddie Roach

Freddie Roach, the man coaching Miguel Cotto ahead of his showdown with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, thinks a spectacular win for his boxer could potentially set up a fight with Floyd Mayweather further down the line.

Cotto and Canelo will face each other on Nov. 21 in one of the most anticipated fights of the year. The winner will have plenty of exciting options looking ahead, and Roach thinks Mayweather could be a viable one for his man should he knock out the young Mexican at Mandalay Bay, per ESPN’s Bernardo Osuna (h/t Edward Chaykovsky of BoxingScene.com). 

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I really want [Cotto] to win impressively. Because if we knock this guy out and Mayweather couldn't....Miguel told me one time 'Freddie, if you would have trained me for that fight I would have knocked this guy out.' And I would really like to see that happen. 

I think the better we look in this fight, the better chance we have to get Floyd Mayweather—if he comes out of retirement, which I think he will.

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Mayweather retired from the sport earlier in the year, beating Andre Berto and taking his career record to 49 wins from 49 fights. For the majority of those victories, the man known as “Money” was a comfortable victor, although when he fought Cotto, a bout which he won via a unanimous decision, he did have a few problems.

Cotto was aggressive early on against Mayweather when they fought in 2012, chopping off the ring, using his size to bully his opponent and had some success when Money was backed up against the ropes. However, once the fight settled down into a pattern, Mayweather outboxed and outworked Cotto.

Here’s a reminder of some of the best moments from that bout:

There’s been much speculation over whether Mayweather will eventually make a return to the ring. At 49-0, the American is level with Rocky Marciano when it comes to his overall career record, and the prestige and pay he’d receive for potentially returning one more time would be enticing.

Money was adamant his win over Berto was going to be his final fight, though. It was a message recently relayed by his advisor Leonard Ellerbe too:

It seems as though the winner of Cotto-Alvarez will have their own obligations to fulfil if they want to keep hold of the WBC middleweight belt.

According to WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman, Gennady Golovkin has the right to a mandatory challenge against the champion after his recent win over David Lemieux, per Vivelehoy.com (h/t Timothy Bladel of BoxingNews24).

That’ll be a completely different kind of challenge for Cotto should he eventually get past Canelo and one that a lot of boxing fans would love to see.

Indeed, while Mayweather was an undeniably talented performer, his fights never had fans on the edge of their seats. With that in mind, there are plenty who would rather see Cotto against new opponents, not going over old ground.