By Chris Williams: It looks like Top Rank promoter Bob Arum overestimated the interest in the upcoming June 5th bout between his two Top Rank fighters World Boxing Association junior middleweight champion Yuri Foreman (28-0, 8 KO’s) and former WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto (34-2, 27 KO’s), both of whom will be fighting at the 50,000 seat Yankee Stadium, in the Bronx, New York.

Arum was hoping the fight would be a huge attraction. However, as of now, ESPN is reporting that only 12,000 tickets have been sold. Arum is hoping that he can get 30,000 fans in the stadium by fight time.

However, that may be wishful thinking on his part, as the fight isn’t getting a lot of attention outside of the East Coast. The bout would have done well had Arum put the fight in Las Vegas, where he could have sold out some of the smaller venues without too many problems. One problem that could be affecting the ticket sales, besides the dismal economy, is that Foreman, 29, isn’t a well known fighter despite recently capturing the WBA light middleweight title in his last fight with Daniel Santos last November.

Foreman has been shown on television a number of times, but his fights have failed to bring much excitement as they’ve mostly been tactical bouts which have gone to decision. Cotto has lost two out of his last four fights and is coming off a beating against Manny Pacquiao last November in a 12th round stoppage loss. With Cotto having lost his last fight, it’s kind of strange to see him rewarded by fighting in a huge stadium for a title shot.

In the past, those kinds of fights were reserved for great champions like Muhammad Ali and exciting contenders like Ken Norton. Cotto, while a good fighter, is coming off a knockout loss and has struggled in three out of his last four fights. For me, it seems totally bizarre to have a fight held in at the Yankee Stadium under those circumstances. It’s like having a huge party the day after you flunked a math midterm. But I guess Arum didn’t want to wait for Cotto to build himself back up with some good wins before putting him in with a good – but not popular fighter – in a large stadium.

I can see this fight happening had Cotto beaten four or five good fighters and Foreman having defended his title four or five times. But right now, it’s strange to have the fight taking place at a huge stadium given Cotto’s recent problems in the ring and Foreman’s lack of popularity. I think Arum rushed this fight before it was ready. I think it’s a decent fight, but not for the Yankee Stadium. But the fight would have been so much better if Cotto was given time to come back from his recent losses and show that he still had what it takes to dominate at the top level.