Miguel Cotto’s next fight: Is retirement in the cards after loss to Canelo Alvarez?

Miguel Cotto is no longer a young man in the fight game. At 35, the Puerto Rican star suffered another big fight setback last night, losing to Canelo Alvarez by decision, which snapped a three-fight winning streak and may have ended the career rebirth that Cotto has experienced under trainer Freddie Roach.

Cotto (40-5, 33 KO) has been in this position before. In 2008, he lost for the first time, falling at the questionable hands of Antonio Margarito. In 2009, he was battered into submission by Manny Pacquiao. And in 2012, he was outboxed, though competitive, against Floyd Mayweather.

But Cotto was younger then, and there was still a major future for him to look forward to each time. After he lost to Mayweather in 2012, Canelo Alvarez was on his radar. An upset defeat that December to Austin Trout derailed those plans, and saw him seek out Roach for new guidance.

The pairing worked out well. Cotto found his groove again as a vicious offense-first fighter, rediscovering the punishing left hook to the body that had been his calling card as a younger fighter, and had gotten lost along the way with his rise to stardom. Roach led Cotto to an easy win over Delvin Rodriguez, followed by a carefully-timed and chosen victory over reigning middleweight champion Sergio Martinez in 2014.

Martinez was himself an old fighter by then. 14 months removed from his last fight -- a mediocre performance against Martin Murray -- and yet another knee surgery, Martinez was closing in on 40 and showed up on fight night looking feeble. Cotto took advantage, dropping Sergio three times in the first round and smashing him for the next eight, stopping Martinez after nine rounds of one-sided action.

Once again, Canelo entered the conversation. The two negotiated late in 2014 and into early 2015, hoping to sign a fight and take the May 2 date. But when Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao appeared close to a deal, Canelo pulled out of labored talks with Cotto, and signed a May 9 fight against James Kirkland. In turn, Cotto signed on for a June 7 title defense against Daniel Geale, a former titleholder.

Both of them won their fights, and then made the deal for November 21. After years of discussion and rumor about the fight, Cotto-Canelo was finally a reality. Now, with the fight over and done with, attention turns to the future for both fighters.

Canelo, of course, has a lot going for him. He’s 25 years old, just entering what should be his prime, and has enormous popularity with Mexican boxing fans, who have helped to create some of the biggest stars in the sport’s history. With Mayweather retired and Manny Pacquiao on his way out, Alvarez’s win over Cotto established him as the obvious choice for a new top dog in the pay-per-view game, as the new big draw in American boxing.

Cotto does not have that sort of future. He’s been through the wars for years now. Though it would be untrue and almost slanderous to suggest that he’s “cherry picked” fights in his career, he’s been much more careful about the fights he selects in recent years, particularly after the upset loss to Trout in 2012.

Cotto’s decision to compete as a middleweight was calculated. Martinez wanted a big payday, and Cotto presented one. (In 2011, Cotto scoffed at the idea of fighting Martinez, deeming that Argentine fighter a non-star, and instead rematching a disgraced Margarito for bigger pay.) With a questionable last outing and some piling knee injuries, Martinez was ripe for the picking. Cotto even flexed his muscle, forcing a 159-pound catchweight rather than the normal 160-pound limit of the middleweight division. It was done simply because it could be done, and any advantage is worth taking if you can make it happen.

Against Geale, Cotto pushed the Aussie to agree to 157 pounds for the limit. Geale hadn’t weighed so little on the scales since 2007, when he was 25 years old instead of 34. It may not have been the reason that Cotto walked through him inside of four rounds, but it certainly didn’t help Geale, who looked gaunt on the scales and weak on fight night.

To make it clear for those who may not be avid followers of boxing, Cotto did these things in part because he can, as mentioned, as the money player in these fights, and in part because he’s not a middleweight. Standing 5’7”, Cotto began his pro career in 2001 as a junior welterweight, 20 pounds lighter than the middleweights. The jump has been made before, but it’s rare, and Cotto has never even been particularly big for his more natural weights. Even as a junior middleweight, he was small and carefully selected opponents, and his power just wasn’t what it was at 140 or 147, where he enjoyed his most notable success.

With his best days behind him and no realistic (or at least good) hope of returning to the welterweight division, Cotto (40-5, 33 KO) may not be long for the sport. There aren’t a lot of great options for him at middleweight, because he isn’t a middleweight. There aren’t many attractive options at junior middleweight, either, where the young fighters on the rise are tall, rangy fighters like Demetrius “Boo Boo” Andrade and twins Jermell and Jermall Charlo. For welterweights he could face at junior middleweight, there are some names who might take the bout, but is it really worth it for Cotto anymore?

He’s made a lot of money, and he’s been helping promote fights for years now, too. Cotto’s flirted with the idea of retirement before, and has been open about the idea for the last few fights. He also skipped not only his post-fight in-ring interview last night, but the post-fight press conference, too. Maybe, just maybe, Cotto is ready to hang up the gloves.

If he continues, he’ll find a fight. There will be no shortage of fighters who would like to take their shot at an aging star fighter, as has been tradition, so to speak, in boxing. Cotto just might be ready to quit, however, and there’s a chance that last night was the final fight of his career.