Freddie Roach called for a rematch once again between his fighter Miguel Cotto and newly-crowned WBC World middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez – with conditions.
Leading up to his unanimous decision loss to the Mexican superstar Alvarez, Cotto was stripped of the WBC World middleweight title for refusing to pay a $300K sanctioning fee.
Cotto (40-5, 33 KO’s) went on to lose the fight controversially as all three judges had the bout relatively one-sided, with one judge ruling Alvarez had won 11 of the 12 rounds.
Roach has yet to grasp the defeat, but in a recent conversation with Cotto at the Wild Card Boxing Club, the Hall of Famer presented an idea for a rematch.
“I’d like to get a rematch with a cap on how much weight we can gain,” Roach said to FightHub TV. “Because, he must have gained like 30 pounds. He went from a little guy to a big guy.”
“They owe us a rematch. I thought it was very close, I did think we outscored him, I thought we outboxed him, I thought the gameplan worked well,” he added.
The WBC allowed both Alvarez and WBA/IBF/IBO middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin to each take one voluntary defense before fighting each other – possibly in September – and Roach does not believe the fight should take place until they are given a chance at redemption.
“I don’t even think the GGG fight should happen until he fights us again,” Roach said. “11 rounds to one?? Someone has to ask these people [the judges], ‘What were you watching?’
“It wasn’t the same fight I was watching. That’s for sure.”
Roach affirmed that Cotto is not yet ready to retire, although the timetable for Cotto’s return remains undetermined.
“We don’t have anything going on right now, but we’re not done yet.”
Last week, WBO World welterweight champion Timothy Bradley said a third bout with Manny Pacquiao was not in his interest, albeit a bout with Cotto was.
“154 is a better weight for [Cotto], but for the right fight, I’m sure we could make 147, yeah. It could happen.”
Bradley (33-1-1, 13 KO’s) has not stopped at just Cotto, also expressing interest in fighting Alvarez for the middleweight belt.
Top Rank CEO Bob Arum said in November that he would not allow Bradley to take on Alvarez above 155 pounds.
– Ryan O’Hara @OHaraSports
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