Saul “Canelo” Alvarez lands a left to the jaw of Miguel Cotto on Saturday night at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas/Photo by John Locher, Associated Press

It was Saturday night at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez of Mexico had just defeated Miguel Cotto of Puerto Rico to win a piece of the middleweight championship.

Since Gennady Golovkin holds two of the other three major belts – there are, laughingly, four – the obvious question to Alvarez afterward was, would he like to tangle with Golovkin? Golovkin is a vicious puncher with a 91-percent knockout ratio.

Alvarez replied, pulling no punches.

“A lot of people, before this fight happened, were asking me about Golovkin and I didn’t want to answer because I had respect for the person I was going  to fight tonight,” he said at the post-fight news conference. “But now they can ask me. And I know Golovkin very well. He’s a friend of mine and like I’ve said before and I’ll say it again, I have respect for him, but I’m not afraid of anybody. I’ll fight anybody, any time. I’m not afraid of anybody. And if you guys don’t believe me, I’ll get back in the ring, put the gloves on and go another 12 rounds.”