Boxing: Miguel Cotto Vs. Yuri Foreman -- June 5, 2010
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There are two significant reasons why Top Rank's Bob Arum will be in New York next week. One will be to oversee a press conference on Wednesday to promote the Manny Pacquiao-Joshua Clottey welterweight title fight, which will take place on March 13 at Dallas Cowboys Stadium. The other is for the final promotional push for next Saturday's outstanding HBO "Boxing After Dark" card at the Madison Square Garden Theater.
That card, which I can't wait for, features a pair of featherweight title bouts as Steven Luevano defends against junior featherweight titlist Juan Manuel Lopez and the electrifying Yuriorkis Gamboa defends his sliver of the title against rugged Rogers Mtagwa.
That's a lot of business for one week, but apparently not enough for Arum.
He will also start the unofficial media blitz for another fight he intends to make for June. That fight would see newly crowned junior middleweight titleholder Yuri Foreman, the New York-based, Belarus native who is studying to become a rabbi, defending against former welterweight beltholder Miguel Cotto, who lost his title via 12th-round knockout to Pacquiao in November on the same card on which Foreman beat Daniel Santos to win his title.
"You will see Miguel Cotto and Yuri Foreman at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 23," Arum told me the other day. "The reason they will both be there is to start the promotion for their fight in June. Miguel wants to fight Foreman. Yuri wants a big fight. Yuri will have the Jewish fans behind him. And we already know what a big attraction Miguel is in New York and how much the Puerto Rican fans support him."
The bout would take place at the Garden on June 5, the eve of the annual National Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York. Top Rank has made that weekend a regular fight date for Cotto for the past few years.
Arum said Cotto, who is still mourning the recent death of his father, asked to come to the Jan. 23 show and is interested in moving up in weight to challenge Foreman.
Foreman, too, is interested in the fight. He had been in the running to land the March fight with Pacquiao after the fight with Floyd Mayweather (I'm still not over that) fell apart. But Freddie Roach, Pacquiao's trainer, put the kibosh on the match over concern about Pacquiao again moving up in weight and facing the much taller Foreman.
So if Foreman couldn't get Pacquiao, he'll certainly take Cotto, according to manager Murray "Shpipples" Wilson.
Arum admits he hasn't yet talked to either camp about money, but he plans to next week in New York.
Arum also said he is unsure if he would present the fight on pay-per-view or try to make a deal with HBO. But either way, he intends to make the fight.
"That's why I am going to show them together in New York, to get this thing rolling," Arum said. "They both want the fight. It would be so big in New York."
If Lopez beats Luevano, Arum said he'd like to put him on the June 5 undercard. Arum's plan has been to eventually match Lopez and Gamboa, if they are both victorious, but not right away.
"We're saving that for later in the year if they both win," Arum said.
This will be a good matchup. I want Cotto to win and make a strong comeback.
I do too but I don't think he will win. I think for cotto to get back to his prime days he needs to take a year or so off to clear up his mind and heal his body.
Cotto isn't the same Cotto ever since the Margarito fight. He barely slipped pass Clotty. Then he got rocked by Pac-man. We'll see how this match with Foreman goes. I think Cotto/Hatton match should take place since both guys got taken down by Manny.
Cotto isn't the same Cotto ever since the Margarito fight. He barely slipped pass Clotty. Then he got rocked by Pac-man. We'll see how this match with Foreman goes. I think Cotto/Hatton match should take place since both guys got taken down by Manny.
That's actually a great idea! Winner gets to fight De La Hoya!
LOL! That wouldn't be a bad idea either. All three of them are garbage anyways.
I don't think cotto is garbage....yet, he looked his best in the margarito fight until well we all know what happened, but if he doesn't get his act straight soon his career is done!
Cotto isn't the same Cotto ever since the Margarito fight. He barely slipped pass Clotty. Then he got rocked by Pac-man. We'll see how this match with Foreman goes. I think Cotto/Hatton match should take place since both guys got taken down by Manny.
That's true, and that's a shame. Cotto is a great fighter, and was undefeated until he fought Margarito, possibly with loaded gloves. That aside, he's barely been able to get passed it. You're right about the Clottey fight, I was surprised Cotto won that fight. But I think I read somewhere that if Cotto wins this fight, he wishes to challenge Pacquiao to a rematch around the same time this year.
That's true, and that's a shame. Cotto is a great fighter, and was undefeated until he fought Margarito, possibly with loaded gloves. That aside, he's barely been able to get passed it. You're right about the Clottey fight, I was surprised Cotto won that fight. But I think I read somewhere that if Cotto wins this fight, he wishes to challenge Pacquiao to a rematch around the same time this year.
Isn't this match a junior middleweight match? People said Cotto lost his touch even before the Margarito fight, when he went up against Mosley. I don't think he should go up against Pacquiao again, maybe a Mayweather/Cotto fight? I mean we all know it'll be one-sided, but who wouldn't wanna see that fight?
Isn't this match a junior middleweight match? People said Cotto lost his touch even before the Margarito fight, when he went up against Mosley. I don't think he should go up against Pacquiao again, maybe a Mayweather/Cotto fight? I mean we all know it'll be one-sided, but who wouldn't wanna see that fight?
Manny and company will use the same fight plan if they fight again. I don't want to waste $50 on a 2nd round KO.
Cruel sport, this fight racket. Miguel Cotto is just 29, but there are many who whisper about him like he's a middle-aged dude who just got a nose ring and tatt and thinks he's all current and cool.
He's done, they chatter, speculation dressed as certainty. No tread left on the tires. He's taken too much punishment, it's just about time to hang up the gloves.
What a cruel concept this fight racket is, for a man pronounced elderly before he reaches his third decade on this planet. Sure, that may be gettin' up there for a supermodel. But an athlete? In this day and age, with the superior training methods and supplementations? Cotto should be entering his prime.
Cotto has heard the rumblings. He knows what people are saying about him. Cotto (34-2, 27 KOs) knows he gets to answer all the questions Saturday night when he takes on Brooklyn's Yuri Foreman (28-0, 8 KOs) in a much hyped junior middleweight fight at Yankee Stadium. It is the first fight at the Stadium, old or new, since Muhammad Ali beat Ken Norton on Sept. 28, 1976.
"I don't know what is going to happen on that night," Cotto said, "but I'm pretty sure, no matter what, when it is over, I'm going to be the winner of the fight."
[+] EnlargeMiguel Cotto
AP Photo/Frank Franklin IIMany believe Miguel Cotto (right, against Shane Mosley in 2007) has to keep Yuri Foreman close in order to control the fight -- and the outcome.
Boxing isn't mere sport. You don't "play" boxing. Boxing plays you. Problem is most fighters don't get it until they take on a younger, stronger, hungrier opponent who is just plain fresher and better. Foreman presents that type of challenge to Cotto.
"I think Cotto's damaged goods," ESPN boxing analyst Teddy Atlas said. "He's a little shopworn. The fight for Foreman could be even easier than people think."
Atlas says Foreman's size -- he's 5-foot-11 with a 72-inch reach -- will be too much for the 5-7 Cotto and his 67-inch reach. Five years ago, Cotto's size would never even be contemplated as a weakness. The Puerto Rican's ferocious style of hammering body blows with slick uppercuts chopped down bigger opponents. But Atlas and others believe Cotto has taken too much punishment. He's shown shown signs of wear and tear. In July 2008, Antonio Margarito had Cotto looking to his corner for help in Round 11. In June 2009, Cotto won a close decision over Joshua Clottey that many felt demonstrated how far he had deteriorated. His "downfall" was cemented in November when a sustained assault by Manny Pacquiao left Cotto bleeding in his corner. Cotto dodged questions about the Pacquiao bout and how much it took out of him. He may not admit it, but his actions say a lot. Cotto brought in legendary trainer Emanuel Steward to prepare him for Foreman.
"I have never trained Miguel before but all I can go by are the comments from people in the gym since we are training in the exact same gym where he trained before the Pacquiao fight," Steward said. "The people that are watching say he looks totally different from what they have seen before. I feel very good about it. I'm always going to be honest with you. Miguel's boxing and energy level have been fantastic."
Cotto knows this fight is his chance to prove he's still a legitimate contender. That is the question he gets to answer, but he has to beat Foreman handily. Foreman, who was born in Belarus and moved to Israel when he was nine, is drawing a lot of attention because of his unique back story. He is Jewish. He is training to be a Rabbi while also boxing. He will probably have the crowd behind him -- although Cotto will have a solid contingent because many Puerto Ricans are huge fight fans. But Foreman has yet to step into the ring against a fighter of Cotto's pedigree. ESPN Friday Night Fights play-by-play man Joe Tessitore sees the Puerto Rican rising to the occasion in the Bronx. "I think Cotto wins by a closer-than-expected decision," he says. "Foreman will give Cotto some difficulties in being an elusive target and picking his spots to get in and out, but in the end Yuri won't keep Cotto off of him and the later rounds it will start to fall in line with the stronger, more effective fighter."
As a boxer, Cotto understands the significance of this fight being held at Yankee Stadium. When asked about fighting in the Stadium, in the first bout in any Yankee Stadium since Ali-Norton III, Cotto talks about being "part of history" in that "legendary place." An avid baseball fan, Cotto said he goes to a lot of Yankees games whenever he is New York.
"I go to that place every year and I am proud of their fans," Cotto said. "I am going to feel like a Yankee on this night. I am going to feel like Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter."
Asked about fighting for the first time as a junior middleweight at 154 pounds, Cotto says it'll be no different than when he jumped from junior welterweight at 140 pounds to 147 to fight as a welterweight. "There are not worries," he said, "because he is a boxer."
His main concern is preparing for Foreman's style. Foreman is the sort of fighter who can make a guy go gray in 36 minutes. He's the same age as Cotto but has taken only a fraction of the punishment. He will move laterally all night and will make Cotto work way too hard to find him."
"Right now, the way Miguel has been looking, it is going to be very hard for Yuri to stay away from Miguel for 12 rounds," Steward said.
Foreman could well potshot his way to a points win, hitting Cotto early and often, then moving to stay away. But ultimately, he may get his biggest assist from an invisible but omnipotent ally -- Father Time.
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Boxing: Miguel Cotto Vs. Yuri Foreman -- June 5, 2010
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