According to Fight News, world famous boxing trainer Emanuel Steward plans on training former WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto (34-2, 27 KO’s) for his next fight on June 5th against WBA light middleweight champion Yuri Foreman (28-0, 8 KO’s) at the Yankees Stadium, in New York. This is an odd setup because Foreman was trying to get the services of Steward as well. However, Steward chose to work for Cotto, the more established fighter.
Steward, who trains IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko among many others, has made no secret about his interest in training Cotto. Steward sees things that he feels he can fix with Cotto’s game. Steward probably couldn’t hurt Cotto any, as he’s coming off a disappointing 12th round TKO against Manny Pacquiao last year. Steward is known for his success in training taller fighters like Tommy Hearns, Jermain Taylor and Klitschko. It’s difficult to see what improvements Steward can make in Cotto’s game, other getting him to clinch and use his jab more.
Cotto rarely clinches in his fights and this forces him to fight hard for 12 rounds. Steward might choose to change that a bit. Foreman is a fighter that uses a lot of clinching after every punch. Steward is going to have to figure out away to for Cotto to defeat Foreman’s punch and grab technique or else Cotto may find himself losing again. The 5’11” Foreman is bigger than Cotto by four inches and has a longer reach as well.
On paper, Foreman’s fighting style would appear to be all wrong for Cotto. Foreman moves all the time, uses his jab effectively and is good at punching and immediately trying up his opponents to keep them from getting their own shots off. Even if a fighter trains hard for Foreman’s style, it’s still extremely difficult to fight him because of his movement and grabbing technique.
Foreman doesn’t give much of a target except for the top of his head when he comes diving forward. If Cotto stands in his tracks when Foreman comes at him, he could find himself getting nailed by the top of Foreman’s head. With his constant diving in against his opponents, Foreman causes a lot of head butts. Cotto might have problems with Foreman’s head most of all their fight. It’s clearly a weapon and hard to combat against.
If Cotto does end up beating Foreman, it’s unknown if Cotto will decide to keep the WBA title to use for Manny Pacquiao bait to lure him for a 2nd fight. Besides Alfredo Angulo, Paul Williams and Sergio Martinez, there are few other opponents for Cotto to fight. It’s doubtful he’ll want to fight any of those guys.
Source: boxingnews24.com By Jim Dowe
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