Is Miguel Cotto vs Canelo Alvarez, slated to take place in October or November, the biggest fight in boxing?
Perhaps it’s best that teams representing Miguel Cotto and Canelo Alvarez were unable to negotiate a deal for a Cotto vs Canelo superfight for May or June of this year?
Canelo Alvarez, who was scrutinized for his semi-controversial win over Erislandy Lara last summer, orchestrated a performance worthy of ‘Knockout of the Year’ last month against KO artist James Kirkland.
And Miguel Cotto, who was previously criticized for halting a presumably-compromised opponent in Sergio Martinez in June 2014 to win the lineal middleweight title, certainly left no doubt he could dominate and stop a legitimate top 10 middleweight within the distance.
Would Cotto vs Canelo surpass one million buys? If so, it would be the first fight card not headlined by Floyd Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao to accomplish that feat in quite some time.
Look for Cotto vs Canelo to draw 1.1 to 1.8 million PPV buys because…
1. Cotto vs Geale viewers: Saturday’s fight averaged 1.6 million viewers. Solid numbers, especially given the fact the bout was considered a mismatch and the challenger lacked sizzle.
2. Google Trends: Both fighters, Cotto and Canelo, were among the trendiest searches in Google U.S. on the weekends they fought; a sign a lot of Americans have an interest in both fighters.
3. 31,000: Alvarez may be, next to Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao and Wladimir Klitschko, the most popular active fighter in boxing. Over 31,000 packed Houston’s Minute Maid Park last month to see Canelo vs Kirkland.
4. Dominant and exciting: Both fighters are coming off awesome performances and their respective stock values are sky high.
5. Mexico vs Puerto Rico: There’s nothing like a good old-fashioned rivalry to spice things up.
6. Hispanic Americans: Latino Americans are extremely passionate about boxing, especially Mexican Americans who comprise roughly 10.9% of the United States’ population with 34.6 million Americans listed as being of full or partial Mexican ancestry.
If two non-Hispanic fighters, such as Floyd and Manny, could often eclipse a million buys, Cotto and Canelo should definitely reach seven digits.
