Yuri Foreman could be back in the ring in February – News

By Boxing News - 07/10/2010 - Comments

By Jim Dower: Former World Boxing Association light middleweight champion Yuri Foreman (28-1, 8 KO’s) is reportedly walking around following knee surgery to repair his injured knee suffered in his 9th round TKO loss to Miguel Cotto on June 5th at Yankee Stadium. Foreman, 29, had been fighting with a bad right knee for 15 years, but it finally gave out on him in the Cotto bout while Foreman was bouncing around the ring on his toes.

Foreman had been wearing a knee brace for years to give him more support to his weakened right knee. Now, after having surgery on the knee, Foreman could wind up as a bigger puncher if his rehabilitation goes well on the knee. Dan Rafael of ESPN says that Foreman could be back as early as February 2011, possibly against John Duddy.

It would be interesting to know how his fight with Cotto would have gone had the injury not occurred and had Foreman been fighting on two good legs instead of just one. Foreman was giving Cotto all kinds of problems until the injury occurred in the 7th. The fight looked to be knotted up at that point with three rounds a piece for both fighters. Even Manny Pacquiao saw the fight as being even at the point that Foreman sustained the knee injury.

At 29, Foreman can’t afford to wait around for long before he starts taking on better opposition in the light middleweight division. There’s too much young talent moving up quickly in the ranks and Foreman can’t really afford to ease his way too slowly into taking on contenders if he wants to get a shot at one of the titles. Ideally, it would be great if Cotto was to give Foreman a rematch, because it would give Cotto a chance to prove that he can beat a healthy Foreman.

However, the chances of Cotto fighting Foreman again anytime soon is fairly remote. Cotto will likely fight Pacquiao next or fight a rematch with Antonio Margarito. Foreman, though, would still be a good option for Cotto at some point in the future, even if Cotto gets beaten by both Pacquiao and Margarito.



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