If Geale comes in over 157lbs, will Cotto cancel the fight?

By Boxing News - 06/02/2015 - Comments

Image: If Geale comes in over 157lbs, will Cotto cancel the fight?By Dan Ambrose: #6 WBC challenger Daniel Geale (31-3, 16 KOs) will be facing WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (39-4, 32 KOs) this Saturday night in a catch-weight fight at 157lbs.

It was a situation where Cotto was the A-side, and if Geale wanted to get the fight, which is arguably the biggest of his 11-year pro career, he had to accept whatever weight Cotto wanted for the fight at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. But writer Steve Kim brought up a good question when he said this on his Twitter: “If Geale comes in above 157 but below 160, what does Cotto do? Cancel fight? Geale is still a middleweight.”

The fight would still technically have the WBC middleweight title on the line because Geale would be within the weight parameters for the 160 pound division. The question is does Cotto pull out of the fight due to Geale coming in over his catch-weight handicap, or will Cotto be satisfied with getting money for Geale coming in over his catch-weight?

It would look really bad if Cotto chose to pick up his marbles and go home just because Geale came in over the catch-weight limit for his handicap. It would look to some like Cotto was afraid to fight someone that was a little bit bigger than him. You can imagine all the upset people who have purchased tickets for the fight at the Barclays Center, not to mention HBO, who gave the green light to the fight.

I’d would be interesting to know how much the weight penalty is for this fight. If Geale comes in over the limit by a few rounds, would he have to pay a significant portion or his purse for the fight? That’s the only thing Cotto would really have to keep Geale from coming in over his catch-weight limit. If he makes the middleweight limit of 160, he would still be able to avoid losing a portion of his purse from the World Boxing Council, and he would still be able to fight for Cotto’s WBC middleweight title.

Of course, if Cotto cancels the fight due to Geale coming in over his catch-weight limit, then that’s a different story. Also, it would be potentially tough on Geale if there’s a huge weight penalty clause in the contract to make sure that neither fighter comes in over the limit. That would obviously impact Geale a lot more than Cotto, because he’s been fighting in the middleweight division for ages, and he doesn’t use catch-weights for his fights.



Comments are closed.