World Boxing Council (WBC) president Mauricio Sulaiman reiterated that Miguel Cotto should defend his middleweight title against Gennady Golovkin later this year.

Sulaiman told Daily Mail Online that Cotto will have the right to defend his title against an opponent of his choice in his next fight. But in case Cotto wins, the WBC president said that the Puerto Rican champion will be forced to face Golovkin, who is the mandatory challenger for Cotto's middleweight title.

"We have instructed Miguel that he must fight Gennady, as his mandatory challenger, next after his April fight, assuming of course that he wins," Sulaiman said of Cotto.

Sulaiman spoke after Cotto, who won the middleweight title with a sensational 10th-round knockout win against Sergio Martinez in June last year, said that he will not let any organization dictate his next career move.

"No organization owns my career. So I will do my part and what I want to do," Cotto said via BoxingScene when asked about the call for him to put his title at stake against Golovkin.

Golovkin, the reigning World Boxing Association and International Boxing Organization middleweight champion, is coming off a scintillating 11th-round stoppage victory against Martin Murray on Saturday in Monte Carlo, Monaco.

Following his victory against Murray, Golovkin, who holds a perfect 32-0 record with 29 knockout victories, called Cotto out as he is aiming to unite all middleweight titles later this year.

"I hope, I hope it is Miguel Cotto because he's the WBC champion," said Golovkin, who has knocked out his last 18 opponents. "My goal is all of the belts. I need unification fights."

However, Max Hermann, Golovkin's manager, believes that fight against Cotto is a long-shot at this point. As of now, Hermann revealed that they will look to arrange a fight against the winner of the World Boxing Organization middleweight title fight between Andy Lee and Peter Quillin in April.

Herman also dismissed reports about a possible fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. The manager said a showdown with Mayweather will be big, but it is a long-shot because there could be a lot of issues.

"He would love to fight the Lee-Quillin winner because he wants to unify the world titles. He's mandatory challenger for Miguel Cotto but I don't think that fight will happen soon," Hermann said. "Floyd Mayweather is not a realistic option for Gennady -- it's just a fantasy. It's beyond our scope of opponents because of a number of issues."

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