Miguel Cotto v Yuri Foreman
Miguel Cotto v Yuri Foreman
The 29-year-old Puerto Rican will be fighting for the first time since a devastating defeat at the hands of Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas last November, his only other defeat having come in similar fashion in the Nevada city against the now discredited Antonio Margarito in the summer of 2008.
New York, though, feels much more like home to Cotto (34-2, 27 KOs) and having sold more than 93,000 tickets in six fights at Madison Square Garden since 2005, baseball fan Cotto is relishing the opportunity to fight outdoors in front of a large contingent of his compatriots so close to the city’s annual Puerto Rican Day parade.
“I’m very excited about this fight and I can’t wait to put on a good show Yankee Stadium for all the fans and go back to Puerto Rico as champion with another belt,” Cotto said.
“It means a lot to fight in the legendary Yankee Stadium. I go to that place every year and I am very proud of the fans.
“I am going to feel like a Yankee. I am going to feel like (Yankees third baseman) Alex Rodriguez and (short stop) Derek Jeter.
“A lot of good things happened over the years for the Yankees here. To be the first fight in this new place is more than an honour.”
Cotto, who will have Hall of Fame trainer Emanuel Steward in his corner for the first time, said he felt more than comfortable about moving up to 154 pounds for the first time in his career.
He weighed in at 153.5, ceding half a pound to the New York-based Israeli title-holder Foreman (28-0, 8 KOs), and said that Steward had helped improve his balance.
“When you talk about balance, it is the way you throw punches and stay right on your feet,” Cotto said. “That is the balance we are talking about.
“Sometimes you can throw more than two punches and stay there after the punches.
“My balance was awful before this camp and now it is much better than we expected.
“We have trained very hard with the balance and now we can throw punches and maintain the balance.”
Cotto made it clear he has put his final round stoppage to Pacquiao firmly behind him.
When asked about his condition following that fight seven months ago, he replied: “Like I said, we trained pretty good for this fight.
“We came in with no mind except for this fight and to come in against Yuri and I am more than 100% sure we are going to be the new WBA champion this time.”
