Roach: It’s now or never for Cotto-Marquez fight

Boxingnews24.com

By Allan Fox: Freddie Roach says it’s time that Juan Manuel Marquez take the fight with Miguel Cotto, because they don’t have time for him to take tune-up fights to get ready for a fight. Cotto will be retiring at the end of this year. He can’t wait for Marquez. Roach says that Cotto will fight Marquez at 147 if that’s what weight he wants. He believes that Cotto can get his weight to that level if he has to make the fight happen.

Roach says Marquez wants a lot of money to fight Cotto. He’s not going to get that money. Just how much Marquez would get is the big question. Cotto vs. Marquez would likely be on pay-per-view. It would some money depending on how much interest the boxing public would show in the fight. Marquez’s inactivity won’t help the PPV numbers. The longtime hardcore boxing fans will know of Marquez, but the newer fans won’t know who he is, and they might not want to pay to see Cotto fight him. Cotto hasn’t fought in close 2 years since 2015.

Marquez, 43, hasn’t fought in almost 3 years since his fight with Mike Alvarado in May 2014. Being out of the ring that long has got to have done something to Marquez’s once great boxing skills. He had a knee problem that kept him out of the ring during that time. It’s unknown if his knee problem still exists.

“We’re looking for another opponent now,” said Roach to Fighthub.com about Cotto’s promoters looking for his next fight. “Roc Nation is getting closer and closer they tell me. I’m waiting because this is his last year in boxing. He’s been a pro for 17 years now. The thing is he wants a tune-up fight,” said Roach about Juan Manuel Marquez. “He wants a lot of money. He’s not going to get that. We don’t have time for that. Let’s do it now or never. That’s my challenge to him,” said Roach.

It’s not a great idea for Cotto to be looking at fighting Marquez at this point. He’s been out of the sport for too long, and it’s not a fight that would interest a lot of fans. It’s a better match than Cotto’s last scheduled opponent James Kirkland, but not much better. Kirkland suffered a broken nose in training recently, which wiped out their fight. Kirkland hadn’t fought in ages as well.

“We have no problems with that,” said Roach about Marquez’s request that Cotto fight him at 147.”We’ll make weight. We can make welterweight. He’s disciplined in his life. He doesn’t let his body get too big anymore. So it don’t be as much of a struggle as it once was,” said Roach.

It would be great if Cotto decided that he wanted to fight a top junior middleweight like Jermell Charlo or Erislandy Lara. At least he would be striving to fight the best. If Cotto wants to comb the welterweight ranks for his next opponent, then he should try and get a fight against Keith Thurman, Errol Spence Jr., Kell Brook, Amir Khan, Adrien Broner or Manny Pacquiao. One of those fighters would be great. Cotto would have a big weight advantage, and his punches wouldn’t bounce off like they did when he fought Saul Canelo Alvarez in 2015.