Boxing360.com brings you the latest news in the world of boxing in the latest edition of Around the Ring:
- Cotto vs Canelo Finds a Home – With a reported offer of $12 million dollars as a site fee, the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, has won the right to host the WBC middleweight title fight between champion Miguel Cotto and challenger Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. The fight will take place on November 21st on HBO Pay-Per-View. Cotto had mentioned he wanted to home canvas advantage in New York’s Madison Square Garden but with a nice chunk of that site fee going his way, I am sure he was willing to move the party to the Nevada desert.
- Middleweight Super Fight – One would think that the Cotto-“Canelo” fight would be the biggest event that could be made at 160 pounds but it could have just been trumped when it was announced that Gennady Golovkin will face David Lemieux in a big time unification fight. This one will take place at Madison Square Garden in New York about a month before that other fight. Oscar De La Hoya stated that he would like to it pit the winners of the two fights against each other but if “GGG” and Cotto end up victorious, that would be pipe dream.
- WBC Sinks Its Teeth In – Just when we taught that we had a new WBC on our hands, they turn around and announce that the upcoming featherweight fight between Leo Santa Cruz and Abner Mares will be for their Diamond belt. The current 126-pound champion is Gary Russell Jr so this Diamond edition of the title will be purely symbolic. The winner will still need to get ranked high on the list to be able to challenge Russell Jr but if that would to happen, it shouldn’t be too difficult to make the fight since all three fighters are with Al Haymon.
- Arum Wants Khan in Dubai – In search of untouched boxing horizons, Top Rank’s Bob Arum is now looking towards Dubai in the Middle East after conquering Macau, China. He has stated in numerous reports that he is planning a major fight card in that city and he wants Manny Pacquiao to face Amir Khan in it. Makes perfect sense since Khan is the biggest Muslim in boxing and Dubai is predominantly of that faith. As of right now it is all talk, mostly by Khan, but we will have to see how Al Haymon, who represents Khan, fits into the equation since Arum is suing Haymon for millions of dollars.
- Showtime Plans to Ramp Up – According to Stephen Espinoza, head honcho of boxing programming for the network, plans are to head full-steam ahead in the second half of the year. He was not at liberty to discuss dates or possible fights but it should be believed the kick off would be the Mayweather Jr fight scheduled for September 12th. Bad thing is that an opponent has yet to be named and we are about a month and a half away from that.
