Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya said that he is determined to make the highly-anticipated showdown between Miguel Cotto and Saul "Canelo" Alvarez happen next year.
De La Hoya told Dan Rafael of ESPN that fight fans and boxing aficionados have been asking him about the fight, which means that the public is getting more interested about the Cotto-Alvarez fight.
To give the fight fans one of the bouts that they want to see, De La Hoya said that he will soon arrange a meeting with Bob Arum, whose Top Rank Promotions promote Cotto's fights, to discuss the super showdown.
"That's the fight that's being talked about the most," De La Hoya said of the Cotto-Canelo fight. "Everywhere I go people are asking me about it left and right. This is what's going to happen. My next move is going to be to give Bob Arum a call and start discussing the fight with Bob."
De La Hoya also revealed that he has already talked to Top Rank president Todd duBoef and Cotto's representative Gabby Peñagaricano, but he conceded that Arum will be the one to decide for the Puerto Rican champion.
"Nothing formal," De La Hoya said of his talks with duBoef and Peñagaricano. "But since Bob is the guy at the helm, I'm going to give Bob a call. This is the type of fight that can get made easier than most, certainly easier than Pacquiao-Mayweather. The reason I say that is because both guys want to fight."
De La Hoya is confident that there will be no major issues when they start negotiating for the fight. Previous reports indicated that there will be discussion about who will headline the fight and who will enter the arena last.
The boxing Hall of Famer said that Cotto should get the champion treatment because he holds the World Boxing Council middleweight title that he won against Sergio Martinez in June.
"Miguel Cotto is the champion and a great champion, and he is also a star, so he gets the champion status treatment, which means we're fighting for his belt," De La Hoya said. "He walks second if he wants to, all that stuff. None of that will hold up this fight."
