Sergio Martinez thinks Canelo will opt for 'less risky' fight with Miguel Cotto in 2013

While Saul "Canelo" Alvarez certainly took a backseat to Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. in their respective Mexican Independence Day Weekend head-to-head battle, Canelo's starpower was reinforced when his Showtime Championship Boxing fight with Josesito Lopez drew over a million viewers. This was despite taking place at the same time as the Chavez Jr. headlined HBO pay-per-view and on a network (Showtime) that never crosses the one million viewer threshold.

Chavez's opponent that night, Sergio Martinez, came out of the evening looking great despite almost being knocked out in the twelfth round.

Martinez has expressed interest in getting a fight with Canelo in April or May of next year before rematching Chavez after Chavez's inevitable suspension for a failed post-fight drug test. Sergio has even expressed a willingness to come to 154 for the fight.

But it appears he doesn't think the bout is likely to happen, telling BoxingScene "Canelo has better and safer offers. After what happened to [Chavez] Junior, logic would tell me that he'll fight Cotto [because] there is less risk and more money,"

Cotto, being the smaller man, might represent more risk, but it's the second part of Martinez's statement that is probably the bigger reason Cotto would be more appealing. Miguel Cotto simply has a bigger fanbase. Martinez's starpower rose considerably with the Chavez fight, but Cotto has the built in, passionate Puerto Rican fanbase and has constantly been in the spotlight for years now.

Either fight, Cotto or Martinez, would represent the biggest and best test of Canelo's career so there'd be no shame in either choice for the young Mexican superstar.

Of course, much of this talk hinges on Cotto getting past Austin Trout in December.