Fights that should happen, that sound like the logical next step, often stay on the shelves with other unfulfilled plans. Austin Trout, the current WBA (Regular) light middleweight champion, deserves a shot at Saul Alvarez, but the people running the career path of Canelo don’t really want a piece of that action.
Trout impressed a lot of people with his unanimous decision win against Miguel Cotto on December 1, 2012, becoming the first fighter to beat Cotto in New York, where he enjoys a huge home advantage. For Trout, everything is changing fast, and after a career of fighting in Texas and El Paso, he’s seeing the big fights, the big money, the big stages.
Right after that win against Cotto, Trout called out Alvarez, looking for a fight with the undefeated WBC Light Middleweight champion. While that sounds like a logical step for both fighters – a unification bout between two boxers with no losses on their record, Trout isn’t pampered and directed by Golden Boy Promotions as a money making machine. Alvarez, only 22 among the two biggest names among the Mexican fighters, has richer goals in mind. Fighting the dangerous Trout and losing to him might jeopardize everything.
The plans are for Alvarez to fight Mayweather in the very near future. Now that Manny Pacquiao is no longer a meaningful name on anyone’s charts, not to mention planning to fight anywhere but the United States, Alvarez vs Mayweather might be the biggest money making option on the table. Austin Trout is too good to ignore, but not a lucrative enough option, financially, to risk Alvarez losing to him and throw away the Mayweather fight.
Mayweather, as always, has first dibs on an opponent. The speculation is that he’ll fight twice in 2013, once in May and then against in September. One of them, probably the later fight, will be Canelo. Robert Guerrero seemed to be in the running for the May fight, but nothing has been decided yet.
Trout himself? He sees himself as a viable option for Saul Alvarez to fight, but he knows it’s a long shot because of the politics that surround boxing.
I don’t know yet who my opponent will be, but you know who I’m targeting. With Saul, I don’t think that he, personally, wouldn’t fight me, because he’s a fighter. hen I say Canelo is ducking me, I mean Papa Oscar De La Hoya is ducking me, Richard Schaefer is ducking me. Luckily, my promoter, Greg Cohen, believes in me and will put me up against anybody in the 154-pound division.
There’s always the option of moving up to 160 and middleweight, something Trout isn’t ignoring, but his immediate goal is dominating the 154 division, cleaning it up, hopefully starting with Alvarez.