Cotto vs. Foreman at Yankee Stadium: Does this fight belong there?

By Boxing News - 02/21/2010 - Comments

Image: Cotto vs. Foreman at Yankee Stadium: Does this fight belong there?By Chris Williams: Miguel Cotto (34-2, 27 KO’s) has had a good career, winning a WBO welterweight title and beating some quality fighters during his career in Paulie Malignaggi, Zab Judah and Shane Mosley. However, as of recent times, Cotto hasn’t looked so great, getting stopped by Antonio Margarito in the 11th round after taking a couple of knees, and getting taken apart by Manny Pacquiao in a 12th round stoppage loss in November. In fact, the loss to Pacquiao was Cotto’s last fight.

Coming off of that loss, Cotto will be moving up in weight to fight unbeaten, little known WBA light middleweight champion Yuri Foreman (28-0, 8 KO’s) at the world famous Yankee Stadium, in New York, New York. Cotto has lost two out of his last four fights, and in the minds of some people, he should have three of his last four fights because he defeated Joshua Clottey by a questionable 12 round split decision last year in June.

Yankee Stadium has a lot of history behind. Heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali fought Ken Norton there in 1976 in a heavyweight title fight. That was a fight that certainly deserved to be held at Yankee Stadium in my view. However, I don’t feel the same way about a fight between Cotto and Foreman. I don’t know. Maybe it’s just me, but I think the Cotto-Foreman fight would be better off at Madison Square Garden or in Atlantic City, in a smaller venue.

Cotto has really struggling as of late, and to throw him in the Yankee Stadium coming off a knockout loss to Pacquiao, seems a little bizarre to me. It seems weird like having a birthday party when it’s not your birthday. I guess Yankee Stadium being a place where you should be putting a mega fight between two guys that have been tearing apart their perspective divisions, not for a fighter that was recently torn apart like Cotto.

As for Foreman, he’s unbeaten as a fighter. There’s no mistake about that, but he hasn’t exactly anyone that I consider to be good. Foreman’s best wins have come against Daniel Santos, Andrey Tsurkan and Anthony Thompson. That’s it. Those are the best fighters that Foreman has fought. His resume looks mighty thin to me, too for me to see him fighting at the famous Yankee Stadium against Cotto, a guy that was just recently torn apart by Pacquiao.

If Foreman had beaten some good fighters like Kermit Cintron, James Kirkland, Sergio Martinez, Paul Williams and Alfredo Angulo, then by all means, I would be very comfortable with seeing Foreman fighting in Yankee Stadium. I mean I still wouldn’t be ok with him fighting Cotto though, but I wouldn’t mind seeing Foreman fight at Yankee Stadium if he beat all those guys.

But the problem is, Foreman hasn’t. His best wins have come against Santos, Tsurkan and Thompson. Sorry, but that’s not good enough for me. Likewise, I think Foreman would lose to Angulo, Martinez, Kirkland, Cintron and Paul Williams. I think he would lose badly. For me, given the lack of quality wins on Foreman’s resume and the fact that Cotto is struggling with his career, I think their fight would be better off at some other location rather than in Yankee Stadium.



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