Ranking the Best Opponents for Miguel Cotto's Next Fight

Even after a stirring defeat of then-WBC champion Sergio Martinez last June, few people considered Miguel Cotto to be a genuine middleweight fighter. On Saturday night in Brooklyn, even Cotto joined their ranks.

The Puerto Rican weighed in below the junior middleweight limit one day prior to a fourth-round dismantling of Australian challenger Daniel Geale. Then he replied to Max Kellerman's post-fight assertion on HBO that he wasn't a true 160-pounder by simply saying, "I'm not."

Nevertheless, his defeat of Geale impressed on heavyweight levels.

It impressed in no small way because Geale, who weighed a contractually agreed-upon 157 pounds on Friday, stepped onto HBO's unofficial scale before the fight at 182.

Cotto dropped the former IBO, IBF and WBA titleholder with a beautifully placed left hook, and then he followed with another knockdown thanks to a counter right hand. Upon rising, Geale shook his head when referee Harvey Dock asked if he was willing to continue.

The fight was officially waved off at 1:28 of the fourth round.

It was Cotto's third win, and third stoppage, since joining ranks with trainer Freddie Roach, who had trained Manny Pacquiao for a TKO defeat of Cotto in 2009. 

"Being here after 10 hard weeks in L.A., training with Freddie, performing like that makes me feel like the Miguel from the 2000s," Cotto told Kellerman. "He's the best thing that ever happened to my career."

Cotto landed 68 punches in three-plus rounds compared to 33 for Geale, including 36 to the head and 32 to the body. Nineteen of those head shots and 18 of the body shots landed on Geale's right side, courtesy of Cotto's expert use of the left hand.

"If you were to list the five biggest weapons in boxing," HBO's Jim Lampley said, "Miguel Cotto's left hook would have to be on that list."

Armed with that knowledge, we surveyed the landscape for Cotto's best options going forward and came up with the following five prospective opponents. They're not all middleweights or champions, but all would play a compelling co-starring role alongside the 14-year veteran.

As always, we invite you to click through and leave comments along the way.

It's official. Amir "King" Khan is going big-game hunting.

The Englishman with Pakistani roots got past a stiffer-than-expected challenge from Chris Algieri in late May and figures the win was all he needed to get onto a far bigger stage.

It's no secret that he's angling for the biggest in-ring fish—a soon-to-be retiring Floyd Mayweather Jr.—but if he's unable to get Money on the hook for a September swan song, he's already begun dropping names that might provide big-ticket opportunities in their own right.

Cotto, whether it's officially for a middleweight title or simply a pay-per-view attraction between fighters with recognizable names and world-class resumes, fits the bill.

Khan told Declan Taylor of the Mail Online that it's about events for him, more so than belts.

"I think it's the names now," he said. "It's about fighting the likes of Miguel Cotto, Juan Manuel Marquez, you've got Timothy Bradley as well. Maybe a rematch with Marcos Maidana and you've got Keith Thurman there. These are the names that are going to leave you a legacy and that's what I want to do."

If Cotto shares the mentality, it could pay off for both men.

His worldwide profile isn't as high as Khan's, but the rationale for Cotto is similar for Timothy Bradley.

The Californian has trumped Khan by actually winning belts in a pair of weight classes—140 and 147 pounds—and has ridden shotgun to Manny Pacquiao in a pair of pay-per-view extravaganzas.

Many reports had him and Cotto linked together had the Puerto Rican not agreed to a deal with Saul "Canelo" Alvarez, so, given the realities of boxing, it's possible that it might occur at some point.

"Cotto brings it and I bring it," Bradley told BoxingScene.com. "I think it would be a great exciting fight. Styles make fights. Cotto brings a certain element to the ring."

Bradley has a late-June date with Jessie Vargas for one of the welterweight belts vacated by Floyd Mayweather Jr. after his defeat of Manny Pacquiao.

Presuming he takes care of Vargas, it can't help but at least keep him in the discussion for whatever might come next.

If pursuit of Cotto were a golf tournament, Saul "Canelo" Alvarez would be the clubhouse leader.

Multiple reports—and Cotto himself—indicate that a bout with the popular Mexican is already signed and sealed and was all but delivered when the Puerto Rican got by Geale on Saturday night.

"We believe, after this fight, we have a verbal agreement with HBO, a verbal agreement with Golden Boy Promotions, but we'll see what happens after this fight," Cotto said at a pre-Geale press conference.

The fight would typically be penciled in for the Saturday of Mexican independence weekend on Sept. 12, but Cotto's promoter, Roc Nation, said it would not challenge Floyd Mayweather Jr. for that date.

Mayweather has suggested his career finale will come Sept. 12 in Las Vegas.

Regardless of when it occurs, the match with Alvarez is an intriguing one. Both have made careers by mixing some boxing acumen with a willingness to bang their way to victories, and the match adds another layer to a longstanding ring rivalry between Mexico and Puerto Rico.

There may be a couple of fights that make more dollars or sense than this one, but if this is what we're left with later this year, few are likely to complain.

If no prior deals had been made and the lone objective was to seek the most lucrative and compelling pay-per-view out there, the name Floyd Mayweather Jr. would be first on Cotto's speed dial.

Both the fighter and his new trainer, Freddie Roach, have suggested Mayweather is a foe they'd love to take on as an encore to the May 2012 match at 154 pounds that left Money bloodied but victorious.

Roach has got a Mayweather ax to grind after the May 2 misfire with Manny Pacquiao, and Cotto believes the version of him with Roach is superior to the version that lost the aforementioned first go-round.

"Since he's been here at the Wild Card, he's actually become a better fighter and I think he has a much better shot at beating him this time out," Roach told BoxingScene.com earlier this year, when a fight with Cotto looked as likely as the eventual meeting between Mayweather and Pacquiao.

Considering it would give Cotto a chance at redemption, Roach a chance at revenge and Mayweather a chance at a sixth divisional championship, it's an awfully hard possibility to top.

Nevertheless, even though bigger names with more ballyhooed accomplishments are lining up for their turns to face Cotto, it's clear that the guy who most deserves the opportunity is Gennady Golovkin.

The Kazakh is unbeaten, has held a title belt in the division (the IBOs) since late in 2011 and has stopped every opponent he's faced since going the eight-round distance with Amar Amari three years earlier.

He's considered the best true middleweight in the world by nearly anyone who pays attention and was elevated to mandatory contender status to Cotto's throne by the WBC. In fact, it seems the only faction of folks who are not hankering for a unification bout are those wearing Team Cotto colors.

When presented with the options of Golovkin and Alvarez, Roach leans toward lucrative before competitive.

"(Golovkin) doesn't sell any pay-per-views," Roach said during a pre-fight press conference.

"So you're fighting a tough guy for no money. It's just business. You have your choice of fighting two guys and so forth—are you going to fight the guy who is going to make you more money? That's the guy you're usually going to go with. It's risk and reward."

Given the short shelf life of boxers, it's hard to blame a guy for chasing suitcases full of money.

But so long as Cotto remains a middleweight and refuses to face his most logical challenger, his reign will be cheapened.

"Cotto is no dummy. He can probably make more money fighting Alvarez than he can GGG,” former New York State Athletic Commission chairman Randy Gordon told Bleacher Report. “Plus, he has a bit of a chance to beat Alvarez. He has no chance to beat GGG. I would still hunt for a Floyd Mayweather fight, but between Alvarez and Triple-G, it's got to be Alvarez."