Miguel Cotto blows out Daniel Geale, sets up huge bout with Canelo Alvarez
There was little reason for Miguel Cotto to fight Daniel Geale, because Geale clearly had little chance to win and there was precious little demand for the fight.
Such is not the case with Cotto's next fight.
Cotto's sensational performance in stopping Geale at 1:28 of the fourth round Saturday at the Barclays Center in New York on an HBO-televised card sets up a hotly anticipated match later in the year with Canelo Alvarez.
Cotto knocked down Geale twice in the fourth round, the first time on a vicious left hook to the jaw, and the second with a right to the top of the head during an exchange, and totally dominated the action.
Geale never had much of a shot and fought like it. He was blasted repeatedly by Cotto shots to the body and never landed a punch of consequence.
But a fight between Cotto and Alvarez figures to be a sensational battle that willl raise the passion of their large and loyal fan bases.
Alvarez, who had hoped to fight Cotto last month, knocked out James Kirkland on May 9 in a brilliant performance in Houston. On Saturday, after Cotto dispatched Geale, he green-lighted a fight with Alvarez.
"Let's do it," Cotto said in the ring to HBO's Max Kellerman. "Before that, I want to spend some time with my family and enjoy them again, but then it's back to L.A. and training for Canelo."
Cotto, who scored his 33rd knockout while improving his record to 40-4, credited trainer Freddie Roach for his resurgence. Cotto had lost back-to-back fights to Floyd Mayweather and Austin Trout in 2012 and seemed to be on the decline when he made the decision to hook up with Roach, the seven-time Trainer of the Year.
Cotto has gone 3-0 with three knockouts, routing Delvin Rodriguez in a tune-up fight, dominating Sergio Martinez to win the WBC middleweight crowd and then blowing out the overmatched Geale on Saturday.
"Freddie is a humble, beautiful guy who always comes with his best trying to get the best from you," Cotto said. "Having that [kind of trainer] has made me better every day."
Cotto, who weighed in for the bout at 153.6, said he's not a middleweight. But he also left open the possibility of a bout with WBC interim middleweight king Gennady Golovkin.
Still, the attention was on a Cotto-Alvarez fight. Alvarez promoter Oscar De La Hoya told Yahoo Sports he planned to sit down with Cotto promoter Roc Nation and try to work out a deal. Mayweather plans to fight on Sept. 12 in Las Vegas, so De La Hoya said he doesn't know when the fight would be held.
He said, though, that he needs a lot of time to promote it and would want the fighters to go on a tour throughout the United States as well as Mexico and Puerto Rico.
"You couldn't set the stage any better," De La Hoya said of Cotto's win.
Asked how he handicapped a Cotto-Alvarez bout, De La Hoya took a deep breath and paused. He thinks the world of Alvarez as a fighter, but Cotto clearly impressed him.
"From what I saw here tonight, it's a pick 'em fight," De La Hoya said. "It's a dangerous fight for both of them. Being ringside and watching the punches that Cotto threw, seeing his power, the way he went to the body and head, the way he was moving his feet, he's a dangerous guy for anyone. I believe in Saul completely, but that's a great, great fight. Cotto was very impressive tonight."
