If Top Rank Promoter, Bob Arum, has his way, newly-crowned WBA junior middleweight (154 pounds) champion, Yuri Foreman, of New York, will defend his belt against former two-time, world welterweight (147 pounds) king, Miguel Cotto, of Puerto Rico, perhaps in June at Madison Square Garden.
In an effort to get things started with a potential Foreman-Cotto bout, Arum has invited each competitor to next week’s 126-pound clashes at Madison Square Garden’s WaMu Theater on Jan. 23.
There, southpaw, WBO featherweibht champion Steven Luevano (37-1-1, 15 KOs) of La Puente, Calif., makes the sixth defense of his crown against Puerto Rican Juan Manuel Lopez (27-0, 24 KOs), and Cuban-born former Olympic gold medalist, Yuriorkis Gamboa (16-0, 14 KOs), will put his WBA featherweight title on the line against Tanzanian, Rogers Mtagwa (26-13-2, 18 KOs).
Arum sees Foreman-Cotto as an excellent matchup.
“I’ve got to make that match, but both fighters will be at the fight on Saturday. Miguel Cotto is coming, and Yuri Foreman — that’s what I’m trying to accomplish,” said Arum. “I’ve spoken to both fighters’ camps, and both fighters’ camps are willing. So now, I have to close the match. I think that they match up really well.”
Foreman had been considered an opponent for seven-division champion Manny Pacquiao after the WBO titlists welterweight defense against Floyd Mayweather (40-0, 25 KOs) was disolved amid a negotiations impasse.
Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38 KOs) has since elected to face Ghana’s 32-year-old Joshua Clottey (35-3, 20 KOs) on March 13 at The Dallas Cowboys’ Stadium in Arlington, Tex.
A Bronx resident, Clottey is coming off of June’s 12-round, split-decision loss to Cotto, whom Pacquiao dethroned via 12th-round knockout for the WBO crown in November.
“Manny felt that Yuri was a bridge too far, and he was reluctant to fight him. I can understand that,” said Arum, referring to the fact that the 5-foot-6 Pacquiao felt that the 5-11 Foreman was perhaps too tall and rangy an opponent, even as there was a shot at Pacquiao’s unprecedented eighth crown in as many different divisions.
“Yuri is a very, very good fighter,” said Arum. “You don’t have to be a knockout puncher to be a very good fighter.”
On the undercard of Pacquiao-Cotto, the 29-year-old Foreman (28-0, eight KOs), of Brooklyn, dethroned hard-hitting, Daniel Santos (32-4-1, 23 KOs)of Puerto Rico via one-sided, unanimous decision.
“Yuri is a superb boxer, as he proved with Daniel Santos,” said Arum of Foreman, who ended a three-fight winning streak by Santos, flooring him once in the second round, and again, in the 12th. “And Miguel is a dangerous, tough fighter, and I think that he’ll be helped by going up in weight.”
A rabbinical student and soon-to-be-Rabbi who was born in Gomel, Belarus, Foreman, in victory, became the first Israeli professional boxing champion.
Foreman would be making his fifth appearance at Madison Square Garden, having decisioned Michael Doaks in April of 2002 over six rounds, stopped Akir Ashanti in two rounds in November of 2004, and earned a 10-round, split-decision over Anthony Thompson in June of 2007.
The 29-year-old Cotto (34-2, 27 KOs) is a big draw at Madison Square Garden, where he is 6-0, with three knockouts, including decisions over Clottey, WBC super world welterweight champ, Shane Mosley, and junior welterweight star,Paulie Malignaggi.
At MSG, Cotto has stopped Michael Jennings, Muhammad Abdullaev, and, former world champion, Zab Judah, in four, nine, and, 11 rounds, respectively.
“I think that they’ll both bring out their contituencies to cheer and to shout,” said Arum. “Miguel still has a tremendous Puerto Rican following, and Yuri Foreman obviously has intrigued people in the Jewish community.”
