Good question... why should he duck any fighter? He's a boxer, he knows no fear, even tough he knows he's going to get a beating of a lifetime if he takes the fight. No reason not to take that beating, he's getting paid right?!
Cotto made a career fighting everyone and never ducked any opponent. He even gave fighters that never got a chance to shine a shot when no one wanted to yet fans completely forget that. GGG isn't someone Cotto will "duck", he's clearly turning him down to pursue better offers late in his career and he earned that position by continuously giving his all in the ring. If GGG offered a big payday and a guarantee PPV event then Cotto would take that fight in a heart beat.
Because according to Team Cotto... Alfred E. Neuman ...alias "GGG" is not on the same level as of yet!!!
Yeah, "this", unless he ends up fighting Andy Lee on regular HBO as advertised in a few articles already. :think
:yikes. By Alfred E. Neuman? Seriously...Alfred has made a career this far on beating up mediocre level fighters. His biggest test so far was Geale!!! Alfred E Neuman alias "GGG" vs Cotto will most likely be a repeat of Porter vs Brook!!! With Alfred getting a schooling!!
There's three fights that fight that bill: Alvarez, and rematches with Floyd and Manny. Using the "maximum cash" theory, it's not a duck unless he fights guys with less name value than GGG ahead of him. Ironically, that list would be every other middleweight since GGG's got the highest ratings and ticket sales in the division.
Having a stay-active fight before going for the big payday is normal in my opinion. At the same time he stays active fighting a low risk opponent and waits for the big payday to be negotiated and sealed. I'm expecting him to go for Alvarez or anyone else that plans to move up and offer a solid payday. If they can't get anyone they will eventually go for GGG.
This will probably be the last stay busy fight he'll have. The endgame for Cotto is likely Alvarez in May, then chasing a Mayweather rematch in the fall/winter of 2015 should he get past that. Hopefully GGG keeps kicking ass and building his fanbase in the meantime. I think going to LA for Rubio to establish a presence on the west coast is a brilliant plan to pick up more fans. The NY development plan has been a home run so far; if that follows the trend, it's going to help his cause tremendously.
From what I hear, this is in fact the plan. I am almost certain than the WBC sanctioned Rubio-GGG as a unification (to everyone but my surprise, I wrote about it previously why they would) because they know from discussions with Team Cotto that Cotto plans to revisit 154, and WBC plans to help him. I forget the details, something about champion emeritus and becoming a mandatory. Long story short hes going to chase that Floyd money. If Cotto wins, WBC will elevate GGG/Rubio winner to full champ and gets to have a well publicized, unified champ. If its GGG, hes the only 7 figure purse total fighter at 160 outside Cotto ( and now Quillin... though that Roc Nation thing is odd and doesnt count as reliable to future) If Alvarez wins, then Alvarez has a mandatory that also has a WBA Super belt lining him up for a huge fight. Alvarez has previously stated that he plans to fight GGG at some point. Either way its a win-win for WBC.... and Cotto will never step in with GGG.