All you have to do is look at the photo of Yuri Foreman and Miguel Cotto standing side-by-side to see the physical disparity between these two very different boxers.
Foreman, the smooth stylist out of Brooklyn via the former Soviet Union, towers over his Puerto Rican opponent. He obviously is the bigger man, which makes you wonder about the decision by the challenger’s brain trust to put Cotto in with this guy, especially at this juncture of his career.
A valid question heading into the pair’s battle for Foreman’s WBA junior middleweight title at Yankee Stadium (8:15 p.m., today, HBO).
A tall order
Just based on the physical dimensions, it’s hard to see this as anything but a victory for the champion.
Foreman, 28-0 (8 knockouts), who won the WBA title in November with a victory over Daniel Santos, is a tall junior middleweight at 5-foot-11. He is a talented, crafty boxer who fires textbook combinations and has the reach to jab his opponents to death and stay out of danger.
And though he is not regarded as a big puncher, he’s is no feather-fist. He punished Santos — one of the better 154 pounders of the past decade who owned wins over, among others, Antonio Margarito.
Beating Santos, despite the Puerto Rican veteran’s mileage and advanced age, is no small feat. The titlist is determined, and the fact that he is studying to be a Rabbi shows his maturity level at the age of 29.
Cotto, 34-2 (27 KOs), is behind the eight ball in this one. Still, the Puerto Rican Advertisement
star is hoping to overcome physical limitations with experience.
Cotto will easily be the most accomplished foe of Foreman’s career — a two-division world champion who has defeated the best fighters of his era and risen to the height of his sport. But he has lost a step, and it can be argued that Cotto’s deterioration can be traced back to July 26, 2008 — the night he was massacred by Margarito.
After boxing well for seven rounds, Cotto was overcome and finally mauled by the Mexican tornado. A fight later, Margarito was found to have an illegal, concrete substance on his hand-wraps before a fight with Shane Mosley. That caused many to speculate that he had committed the same unforgivable act against Cotto.
Cotto then struggled with Joshua Clottey, and then was knocked out by pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao in the biggest fight of 2009 last November. It was a brutal, give-and-take brawl that showed Cotto could still hang with the best.
But, at the end of the day — and despite holding a significant height and reach advantage — Cotto was knocked out in the same round that Margarito put him away, the 11th.
Some say he never recovered from the Margarito beating.
The end
Cotto has had a long, tough, exciting career. He graduated from prospect to contender in 2004 — six years ago — when he outpointed Lovemore N’dou over 12 rounds. Since then, he has given boxing fans some of the best moments of the past decade — a give-and-take war with DeMarcus Corley, a knockdown, drag-out slugfest for the ages with Ricardo Torres, a shootout with Zab Judah, a superfight with Mosley.
And the Margarito battle.
But, at 5-7, he is four inches shorter than Foreman, and he will suffer from a five-inch reach disadvantage. He is a natural 140-pounder who grew into 147. Junior middleweight, frankly, is too much.
It’s been a heck of a ride. But, at the age of 29, Cotto’s time at the top probably ends tonight.
Foreman by unanimous decision.
Matthew Aguilar may be reached at [email protected]
