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Miguel Cotto Obliterates Daniel Geale: Bring on Gennady Golovkin or Canelo Alvarez Next!

z_cottoBy Travis “Novel” Fleming

Saturday night, live on HBO from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, Miguel Cotto, 40-4, 33 KO’s, pleased his rabid Puerto Rican fan base by annihilating Daniel Geale, 31-4, 16 KO’s, in the first defense of his WBC, and lineal, middleweight championship at the kick off event for the annual Puerto Rican Day festivities. Somehow at age 34, after looking like his career was all but over just a couple of years ago, Miguel Cotto has re-emerged looking like he did in his prime but against much bigger men!

Geale is a legit middleweight, a recent unified champion at the weight, and the biggest man Cotto has ever fought. He likely outweighed Cotto by over twenty pounds in the ring. Many, including myself, felt that Cotto was too small to hang at middleweight, especially when he weighed in for this fight at 153.6 pounds which is under the limit for junior middleweight! Boy was I wrong. A junior middleweight Cotto just arguably scored a more impressive victory over Geale than Gennady “GGG” Golovkin, 33-0, 30 KO’s, and, for the first time ever, I consider Cotto a legit threat to GGG, and especially to Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, 45-1, 32 KO’s.

Within the first three seconds of the fight, Cotto landed his signature crushing left hook to the body that would tell the story of the fight. He repeatedly landed crushing left hooks to the body and head, easily winning the first three rounds. He boxed beautifully defensively, and showed an impressive combination of boxing and power punching. There was questions as to whether Cotto’s knockout over Sergio Martinez was indicative of his power carrying up to middleweight, due to Martinez being an aging fighter plagued with recent injuries. Against Geale, Cotto proved that he hits as hard as anyone in the middleweight division. In the first three rounds, the much bigger Geale was visibly hurt at least five times. In the fourth round, Cotto scored a brutal knockdown with a left hook to the head and followed up with a second knockdown via a counter right hand, which prompted referee Harvey Dock to wave off the fight, giving Cotto an incredibly impressive fourth round TKO win.

Cotto proved he’s a legit challenge for Gennady “GGG” Golovkin by equalling, and perhaps even surpassing, what GGG did to Geale as far as skills exhibited mixed with brutal power. It’s amazing how Cotto’s power has carried up in weight, he looked better than ever last night. Trainer Freddie Roach has him maximizing his weapons like he never has before, scoring three brutal knockouts since hooking up with Roach after two straight losses that most felt spelled the end for Cotto as a top tier fighter. This rejuvenated Cotto is a dangerous fight for anyone.

Next up for Cotto looks to be Saul “Canelo” Alvarez with the promise of the winner facing Golovkin. Golovkin is the mandatory challenger for Cotto’s WBC middleweight belt, but, recognizing the significance of a Cotto vs Canelo battle, the WBC has said they will allow Cotto to defend against Alvarez first, as long as the winner fights GGG next. Canelo vs Cotto is the biggest fight in boxing that doesn’t involve Floyd Mayweather Jr, and will do over a million PPV buys. It’s an excellent pick’em fight between two guys with incredibly exciting styles that’s sure to be a memorable battle for anyone who watches. How amazing would it be if the two biggest fights in boxing got made in the same year? 2015 is shaping up to be the best year boxing has seen in over twenty years. With the winner of Cotto vs Canelo having to face GGG next, the middleweight division is in for exciting times!

Miguel Cotto is a surefire first ballot hall of famer, an all time great, and one helluva fighter.
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