Miguel Cotto, the WBC middleweight champion of the world, is close to naming an opponent for an upcoming June title defense. The mystery opponent is still shrouded in mystery, but boxing observers all know that it won't be WBA and IBO middleweight champ Gennady Golovkin.
Fans badly want to see Cotto, a future Hall of Famer, take on Golovkin and give him a true test against a legitimately elite opponent. Cotto, however, is in no rush to face the man called "GGG," who has knocked out 19 straight opponents and never been defeated as a professional.
"He has to wait like anybody else," Cotto told ESPN.com. "He can do what ever he wants. My career does not depend on Gennady Golovkin."
While most fighters who decide not to face Golovkin claim he doesn't have a big enough profile to justify the immense risk his power presents, there is wide speculation that 41-year-old Cornelius "K-9" Bundrage may be on deck; not only does K-9 have a far lower profile than Golovkin, despite his appearances on The Contender television show in 2006, Bundrage is not a middleweight.
Golovkin's handlers are also willing to make major sacrifices to get Cotto to fight their man. "We'll make the terms very attractive for Cotto. We would make a lot of concessions to get that fight," Golovkin's promoter Tom Loeffler told ESPN after Golovkin stopped Martin Murray in Monte Carlo in February.
Cotto's manager Gaby Penagaricano won't rule out a fight with Golovkin either, despite their obvious hesitation to get in the ring with him. After Cotto fights in June, he must face Golovkin or lose his WBC belt.
"We need to talk about the June fight, and after we will sit down with Tom, who's a dear friend of mine, and see if we can make the fight. But as you know by Miguel's track record, he is not one who ducks opponents," Penagaricano said.
[ESPN]
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