Pacquiao vs Cotto Rematch Would Depend on Weight, Money, and Cotto's Terms

Miguel Cotto's adviser Gaby Peñagarícano tells BoxingScene.com's Rick Reeno that a potential fight with Manny Pacquiao in June is far from a slam dunk proposal from the Team Cotto side, and that they have not yet met with Top Rank promoter Bob Arum to discuss anything:

"[Arum] wants to talk about a potential fight for Miguel, but I don't know which fight that's going to be. It might be Pacquiao, it might be Chavez Jr., we don't know right now. ... A hypothetical scenario, is that, if we were offered a fight with Pacquiao, that fight would not be at 147. ... Without knowing the financial platform for the fight, it would not be at 147, from Miguel's perspective."

Word from the enormous and multi-leveled Pacquiao camp is that he won't fight Cotto over 147 pounds (I never know who to pay attention to from Team Pacquiao), and this statement from Team Cotto could be a bluff that can be called. Cotto holds a title at 154, but Pacquiao has already won a bogus belt at that weight, so that would not be any sort of lure to bring him on board for, say, a 150-pound catchweight. Manny's the money man here, not Cotto. It's not like they're going to fight in New York.

What this could also mean is that Cotto and his team aren't dying to make this fight. I'm sure for the right deal it's highly attractive to them, but they may well hold firm. Miguel can make money in other fights. Very good money. He doesn't need a Pacquiao rematch to pad his retirement fund, really.

[ Related: Roach, Fans Prefer Bradley to Cotto Rematch ]

There's a pretty good chance that Cotto sees a potential Chavez fight in July, which Top Rank wants and is a fight they've been trying to put together for over a year, as simply a better fit: He'd be more likely to win, he'd make very good money, he could take the "0" from a hyped second generation star, and he could pick up a title in a fourth weight class if he were to take a belt off of Chavez at 160.

And don't forget, Miguel Cotto is no longer tied to Top Rank, no longer at the mercy of which promoters they will or will not do business with, and there have been reports that Cotto is negotiating for a fight with Canelo Alvarez, the 21-year-old Golden Boy phenom who also holds a title at 154 pounds. And Floyd Mayweather Jr has mentioned Cotto -- bluff or not, that could be a wild card option.