Team Canelo: Cotto ruled out, Trout possible, Mayweather top priority

Canelo Alvarez and his trainer and co-manager Chepo Reynoso may have heard many boxing fans loud and clear, as they tell Ernesto Castellanos of notifight.com via BoxingScene.com that Miguel Cotto is "out" of the running for a May 4 fight with Alvarez, despite Golden Boy's Richard Schaefer still trying to sell that following Cotto's Saturday loss to Austin Trout.

"Cotto was a strong candidate to meet Saul, but he was ruled out with the loss to Trout. Now [Trout] could take his place," Chepo said.

Canelo (41-0-1, 30 KO) added praise of Trout, calling the unbeaten WBA titlist a "great fighter" with a "complicated style," and "a great choice for next May."

What's clear is that Floyd Mayweather (43-0, 26 KO) is still their top priority. Not long ago, Canelo demanded that Golden Boy arrange a fight between himself and one of Mayweather, Cotto, or middleweight champ Sergio Martinez. Martinez has opted to stay at 160 pounds and defend his title on April 27 against Martin Murray in Argentina, and Cotto's loss appears now to have halted the plans to have a big Mexico vs Puerto Rico, star vs star battle on PPV on one of boxing's annual big weekends.

Mayweather, Canelo says, is talking about fighting in February instead, and that could be a fight between Floyd and Robert Guerrero. If Canelo can't land that mega-fight with Floyd, then Austin Trout is probably the best, and hottest option out there. A Showtime record audience saw Trout beat Cotto (37-4, 30 KO) in an entertaining fight, with no arguments about the winner.

I'm not saying that makes Trout (26-0, 14 KO) a big star overnight, but he's sure as hell a lot more viable than he was three days ago. He's no longer, "that guy fighting Miguel Cotto." He's now "Austin Trout, the guy who beat Cotto."

This could all get very interesting, and it's possible that an audible will get called and we still wind up with Canelo-Cotto, but I think you have to applaud the public stance Canelo and his team are taking for now.