WBC Middleweight world champion Miguel Cotto successfully
made the first defense of his Middleweight world championship by scoring a
fourth round knockout over former two-time Middleweight world champion Daniel
Geale on Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Cotto
immediately established his left hook from the outset and was able to land it
effectively to the body and head of Geale.
It was also apparent from the opening bell that Cotto’s
ability to pick his spots and as well as his lateral movement affected Geale’s
offensive rhythm. Geale, a fighter known for his ability to throw punches in
volume was simply unable to get his punches off first and to land anything to
discourage Cotto. Simply put, Cotto’s ability to outbox Geale and land the
cleaner more effective punches was the story of this fight.
In the fourth round the champion knocked Geale down to the
canvas with a flush left hook to the head. Geale was able to beat the count,
but the end was near as Cotto pressed on the attack and dropped Geale for a
second time moments later as a result of right hand. Although Geale was able to
beat the count again he informed Referee Harvey Dock that he did not want to
continue. Official time of stoppage was 1:28 of round four. Miguel Cotto
advances to 40-4, with 33 Knockouts. Daniel Geale falls to 31-4, with 16 Knockouts.
Cotto’s impressive knockout of Geale was in some ways similar
to Geale’s knockout loss last year at the hands of undefeated WBA/IBO
Middleweight world champion Gennady Golovkin. In both fights Geale felt the
punching power of both Cotto and Golovkin and after being knocked down twice
each fight indicated that he did not want to continue. A slight difference in
comparing Cotto’s performance against Geale to what Golovkin was able to do is
Geale was able to go into the fourth round against Cotto, but was stopped in
three rounds by Golovkin.
Although this fight lasted a little longer than Golovkin’s
fight against Geale, it in no way takes away from what was an impressive
performance by Cotto against a world-class boxer in Daniel Geale. As for Daniel
Geale, it will be interesting to see where he goes coming out of this fight.
Geale has been at or near the top of the Middleweight division for several
years, but after suffering two devastating knockouts at the hands of the two
best fighters in the division in a relatively short period of time one has to
wonder what Geale’s future will be in the Middleweight division and what affect
these two knockout losses will have on him going forward.
Over the last month readers have seen this observer discuss
the potential storyline that has taken shape involving Miguel Cotto, Gennady
Golovkin, and Saul Alvarez as each has fought against “Game”, but ultimately
over matched opposition. With all three successful in their recent bouts, it
will be interesting to see if two of the three fighters will meet each other in
their next fight with the winner theoretically to face the third fighter in
this storyline.
Following his victory over Geale, Cotto appeared to be open
to facing either Alvarez or Golovkin, but seemed to indicate that he would
fight Alvarez next. If Cotto-Alvarez is indeed in the near future, it will be
interesting to see whether Golovkin will make a defense of his world title before
a fight between Cotto and Alvarez takes place.
One should remember that
following his victory over Willie Monroe Jr. on May 16th that Golovkin
expressed his interest in further unifying the World Middleweight championship.
If Cotto and Alvarez are on a collision course for a fight sometime later this
year, Golovkin might look to face either WBO champion Andy Lee or the winner of
the upcoming fight for the vacant IBF Middleweight world championship between
Hassan N’Dam and David Lemieux, which will take place on June 20th in Montreal,
Canada.
No matter how this will all play out involving Cotto,
Golovkin, and Alvarez it is clear that the Middleweight division will continue
to be a division to watch for some time. If this potential storyline ultimately
results in one Undisputed world champion being crowned in the division, the
real winner will not only be Boxing fans, but the sport overall.
“And That’s The Boxing Truth.”
The Boxing Truth® is a registered trademark of Beau Denison
All Rights Reserved.
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