Should Cotto fight Berto instead of Foreman?

By Boxing News - 02/05/2010 - Comments

Image: Should Cotto fight Berto instead of Foreman?By Chris Williams: Former World Boxing Organization welterweight champion Miguel Cotto (34-2, 27 KO’s) has been linked with WBA light welterweight champion Yuri Foreman (28-0, 6 KO’s) for a bout that could be taking place in June of this year. However, that seems like a big mistake for Cotto to take this fight, and I think it could backfire on Cotto if he ends up getting beaten again. Foreman, 29, is a lot bigger than Cotto at 5’11” compared to only 5’7”, is hard to hit because of his constant movement, and his sneaky power.

Foreman hits a lot harder than his record would have you believe. Cotto isn’t doing himself any favors by fighting Foreman, because Yuri isn’t well known to casual boxing fans. Actually, Cotto would be doing his promotional company, Top Rank, a big favor in fighting Foreman, because this will give Foreman his best opponent of his career and go a long way towards making a name for him.

It’s a fight that does little for Cotto, even if he wins. Boxing fans won’t likely give Cotto much credit if he beats Foreman, because many of them haven’t seen much of Foreman. He doesn’t have a huge amount of fans, and even among hardcore boxing fans, Foreman isn’t well liked from what I can see because of his hit and run style of fighting.

I think Cotto is much better off going for a fight against World Boxing Council welterweight champion Andre Berto. He’s much better known than Foreman, has blazing fast hand speed, and is very beatable. Berto has struggled in fights against Luis Collazo and David Estrada, and hasn’t looked all that good in the past few fights.

Cotto would seem to have a much better chance against Berto, because at least he would be there for him to hit, and he wouldn’t have to chase him around the ring all night long like he will against Foreman. When Foreman isn’t employing the hit and run tactics in his fights, he has an annoying habit of hitting and immediately grabbing his opponents.

It’s a style that is very frustrating to watch, and it’s probably even more difficult to defend against. Cotto will have problems against that style, and I can see him getting cut to pieces by Foreman’s head in the process, because Foreman often dives in with his head down, causing him to ram heads with his opponents. This has happened in his last two fights.

I think Cotto will be making a huge mistake if he fights Foreman. He won’t get any credit even if he beats him, and he stands a good chance of losing if he does face him. Like I said, this is a fight that will help out Cotto’s promotional company Top Rank, because Cotto will be making a name for Foreman in this fight, but it won’t be helping Cotto all that much in my view. He’s much better off, if he’s smart, to go for a fight against Berto.



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