Miguel Cotto is not focused on Gennady Golovkin. He is focused on Daniel Geale, which is as it should be?
On Saturday, June 6, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, in a fight televised live on HBO, reigning and defending WBC World middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (39-4, 32 KOs), from Caguas, Puerto Rico, gets it on with former WBA/IBF World middleweight champion Daniel Geale (31-3, 16 KOs), from Mt. Annan, New South Wales, Australia.
Having fought in New York City 11 times, this will be Cotto?s first foray into Brooklyn. But no matter the borough, no matter the state or nation, the 34-year-old Cotto is the warrior?s warrior and is as loved as he is respected. But some of that love and respect, won over 14 years of battle, has begun to erode. It?s not that Cotto has misbehaved. It?s not that he has embarrassed the sport. It?s that another middleweight champion, a gentleman who is less gentle than all man named Gennady Golovkin, wants to unify the titles, and if possible at Cotto?s expense.
Cotto is only a year older than Golovkin, who is 33, but he?s an old 34 who has fought in more knock-down-drag-out fights than anyone can count. Cotto?s not focused on Golovkin. He is focused on Geale, which is as it should be, and when he?s done focusing on Geale he?ll focus on Canelo, who has liabilities Golovkin doesn?t appear to possess.
But Golovkin is the new kid on the block. His winning personality, killer instinct, and refined skills have won him multitudes of fans. Cotto, through no fault of his own, is flirting with being old news whereas Triple G?s greatest fights are in the future. When Cotto was asked at this week?s presser about fighting Golovkin, he was none too pleased. ?Golovkin is a guy who never faced, in my opinion, a Class A opponent,? he said, ?and people are still asking for those kinds of fights. Miguel Cotto has been here for 14 years, facing everybody and it?s the time for Daniel Geale.?
Geale, like Cotto, has also fought in New York before. On July 26, 2014, he squared off against Golovkin at Madison Square Garden. At the time, Geale was thought to be the best opponent Triple G had faced?a description that still holds true?yet he only needed three rounds to get the Aussie out of there.
Cotto is under no obligation to fight anyone other than whom he wants to fight, and that includes a big, undefeated, hard-hitting middleweight like Golovkin. Cotto is a junior middle whose most searing accomplishments were at welterweight. Despite having won the middleweight crown against another small middleweight, Sergio Martinez, who was clearly on his last legs when they met, most seasoned observers, and even unseasoned observers, feel that Cotto has no chance of defeating Golovkin. But if and when they meet, Cotto will acquit himself nobly. Cotto always acquits himself nobly, whether he?s drained from fighting at a catchweight or being beaten by a cheat with loaded gloves.
In light of all the rip-roaring fights Cotto has had, where he has been bruised, cut and battered, sometimes beyond recognition, the Pride of Puerto Rico is justifiably concerned about his health. To a handful of brave souls, the keyboard commandos who like to see blood (somebody else?s), that?s little short of cowardice. But anything less is suicidal.
Geale is a solid if light hitting opponent who isn?t likely to dethrone the champ. He?ll box beautifully. He?ll glide effortlessly around the ring. He?ll use his long reach and athleticism to try to do what Austin Trout did when he fought Miguel. But Cotto, diminished yet still highly skilled, should be able to cut off the ring and landed enough crunching shots to the head and body to retain his title.
?I?m expecting an aggressive Cotto,? said Geale. ?He?s going to come out hard and he?s going to be thinking that he?s going to stop me early, but I?m going to make sure that doesn?t happen. The game plan is to go in and fight my fight. It?s not to get sucked in. It?s not to get caught up in what he is doing. Cotto has trouble in stages against guys that move and use their reach. He knows that?s what I?m going to be doing and he?s going to be trying to counter that with aggression and coming forward. I?m going to use my abilities and not get caught up in his game plan.?
It sounds like Geale knows what he needs to do to keep the fight competitive. Whether he can accomplish that while Cotto imposes his will remains to be seen.
?I?m expecting a guy who?s not going to show me a lot of respect,? Geale continued. ?I have total respect for Miguel and his achievements. Fighting a guy like Miguel who?s fought some of the greatest fighters is going to be a great test. But I can win this fight and that is exactly what I intend to do come June 6 in Brooklyn.?
Cotto is no Felix Sturm. He?s no Anthony Mundine or Garth Woods. Cotto is an elite fighter. But Geale is a natural middleweight, the naturally bigger man. To level the playing field, Cotto demanded, as fighters in the past have demanded of him, that Geale fight at a catchweight, in this case 157 lbs., a stipulation to which Geale agreed, but has driven others to apoplexy. They insist that catchweights besmirch the sport?s integrity, that they betray basic boxing tenets, as though those tenets are not as flexible as a contortionist in a sideshow.
?I?m not a 160-pounder,? Cotto told ESPN. ?I just want to make the game more fair.?
What?s more fair to Cotto may be less fair to Geale. He?ll make weight, by hook or by crook. He?ll rehydrate after the weigh-in and probably tip the scales at 170 on fight night. But he may be weight drained if it goes the distance, assuming Cotto doesn?t send Geale packing early.
?I think people are making a big issue where it?s not a big issue,? Cotto said. ?In 2009 I went from 147 pounds down to 145 and did anybody hear anything about Miguel telling anything about I disagree with the catchweight? No. I was a gentleman the whole way. Catchweight was our main point to make this fight happen and Daniel agreed to go down to 157 and I hope he can be 157 this Friday.?
Like Mayweather and Pacquiao, Miguel Cotto will soon abandon the big stage. He is also, again like his aforementioned former opponents, feathering his nest for that eventuality.
?Boxing at this point in my career is a battle with myself,? Cotto told Boxing Insider. ?Every day I need to bring my best in the gym from morning to evening. Next week has to be better than last week. I need to ask myself to be better every day. I know that if I bring my best to the gym every day, I can bring my best the night of June 6 against Geale.?
