On Nov. 21, the boxing rivalry between Mexico and Puerto Rico will be renewed as their best, homegrown talent will square-off in perhaps one of the biggest matches this year.
Boxing analysts see this fight as a battle between experience and youth. With Cotto, 34, having plenty of fights under his belt, looks to outbox his younger opponent, while Alvarez, 25, will try to win by sheer power and youth.
With that said, Golden Boy promotion CEO Oscar De La Hoya who also represents Alvarez, weighed in on the match-up and he believes they will try to bring Alvarez as far as the 12th round to try and drain him out.
"We hear that Cotto is throwing 300 punches a round, they have him training extra rounds," said De La Hoya via Boxing Scene.
"So my philosophy behind that is that they want to drown 'Canelo.' They want to go in there and drown him in the latter rounds and try and take him into deep waters and get him tired. 'Canelo' is prepared for it. Look, the Floyd Mayweather fight, the Erislandy Lara fight, the Austin Trout fight - he's gone 12 rounds a lot of times."
However, he sees Cotto's endurance not to last due to his age. However, he is not taking away the possibility that the Puerto Rican can pull it off.
"So what I'm thinking is that, look, if Cotto can outbox 'Canelo' - how many rounds can he do it for? That's the question. Can he box and stand on his toes for twelve rounds at that age? Maybe it's impossible or maybe not."
"Maybe Freddie Roach has him in tip-top shape, that he's going to outbox him but knowing the rivalry, Mexico versus Puerto Rico, fans are not going to let him box. The passion that you have to put in the ring and perform - you have to go out there and fight."
