Middleweight champion Miguel Cotto will defend his crown against former belt holder Daniel Geale on June 6 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, according to Dan Rafael of espn.com
“We’re excited and proud to bring Miguel Cotto back to New York along with Miguel Cotto Promotions, now as a part of the Roc Nation Sports family,” said David Itskowitch, COO of Roc Nation Sports’ boxing division. “Brooklyn and boxing have a long history, and Puerto Rican heritage is closely integrated with both. What a way for New York to kick off the week of the Puerto Rican Day Parade festivities — with Miguel Cotto’s long-awaited return to the ring.”
“It’s going to be great to be at a new place in New York,” Cotto said. “My fans are in New York and I love fighting there.”
He fought Martinez at a contract weight of 159 pounds, one below the 160-pound division limit. With much more leverage against Geale, he insisted that he come down to 157 pounds and made no apologies.
“I had to do it before when I faced Manny Pacquiao. He made me come down to 145 pounds,” Cotto told ESPN.com of his 2009 knockout loss to Pacquiao in a welterweight title fight. “Pacquiao used any advantage he had against me and I will do the same with everybody in the division. I am a small middleweight and I need to use this to my advantage.”
“But I know he’s coming in great shape to prove to everybody he can beat Miguel Cotto,” Cotto said. “We will be ready for him.”
“I’m very excited, very pumped. This is a huge opportunity for me,” Geale told ESPN.com. “I’m very fortunate that I have a great team and they worked their butt off and got me the fight I wanted. This is definitely one I wanted for a while and they made it happen.”
Said Gary Shaw, Geale’s promoter, “I believe the Cotto fight is the perfect match up for Daniel. I was surprised that Miguel took the fight. If they looked at the (Golovkin) fight as an indication of which Daniel will be in the ring they need to look at the (Felix) Sturm fight to find out who will be in the ring on June 6.” Geale said he has followed Cotto and has the utmost respect for him and his many accomplishments.
“Miguel Cotto is a great fighter and he’s been one for a long time. It makes it easy to train hard for a guy like that,” Geale said. “I know what I am up against. He’s such a high-profile fighter. He’s fought the best of the best. He’s at middleweight and that changes things for him. I’ve been here for along time.
“The (157 catch weight) is what it is. I fight at 160 but you take what you can get sometimes. Fighting Golovkin was tough. So many people dodged the guy and I put my hand up to fight him and a few things didn’t go my way. I know this opportunity is going to be much different.” Cotto declined to talk about the fight with Alvarez since they both have to win first.
“We are focused on Geale for June and then after that we can talk about anybody else,” Cotto said. “We had some conversations about fighting Canelo but we are really focused on Daniel Geale.”
“If anything it adds motivation for me. I definitely want to upset those plans,” Geale said. “My job is not to be another opponent. My job is to go out there and win. He’s fought most of his fights at lighter weights and now he’s stepping up and I will show him what its like to fight a real middleweight even though I’m stripping down a little bit. I’m gonna make this one count and go out there to cause a big upset.”
Said Shaw, “I have a lot of respect for Miguel and his team, have known them all for a very long time and appreciate the opportunity they have given Daniel, myself, and (co-promoter) Grange Old School Boxing. On June 6 there will be a new WBC world champion, so I hope team Cotto has not looked past June into September. That would be a mistake.”