While the boxing world waits to see if WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto will finally fight Canelo Alvarez in the biggest Puerto Rico vs. Mexico showdown since Oscar De La Hoya fought Felix Trinidad in 1999, Gennady Golovkin twists in the wind hoping for a big fight.
Golovkin, who has knocked out his last 20 consecutive opponents, is becoming wildly popular among hardcore boxing fans, but hasn't found the big-name opponent that will introduce him to the casual fans. Cotto doesn't seem interested, but junior middleweight titlist Erislandy Lara does.
Lara does not have the name value of Cotto or Alvarez, but he's a bigger name than Willie Monroe Jr., Golovkin's most recent conquest, and he's been in the ring with Alvarez before. Lara fought this past Friday on Spike TV's Friday Night Lights Out series and outclassed Delvin Rodriguez in a one-sided unanimous decision.
After the fight Lara, one of boxing's most skilled defensive fighters, said he is ready for all of the sport's biggest names. He specifically mentioned Golovkin, and offered to face him without a catch weight stipulation.
"I'm going to sit down with my team and Al [Haymon]," Lara said. "The future is clear: We want Floyd Mayweather, we want Miguel Cotto and we want Gennady Golovkin at 160 pounds."
Alvarez is often mentioned as a possible Golovkin opponent, but when Lara faced Alvarez in 2014 many thought he did enough to win their fight. Lara controlled the pace of the fight and proved frustratingly difficult for Alvarez to hit. The judges thought Lara did too much boxing, however, and was not aggressive enough to get the win. He walked out of the MGM Grand with a split decision loss with one judge scoring the bout 115-113 in his favor.
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