BOXING REBIRTH CONTINUES IN 2015 COMEBACK
HBO Boxing
Las Vegas, NV – Boxing’s hot summer schedule continues this weekend with a couple of cards being dealt out by pay and free T.V. The action will be highlighted by the return of WBC middleweight (160) champion Miguel Cotto (39-4, 32 KOs) defending his crown against rugged Daniel Geale (31-3, 16 KOs). Coverage from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York begins Saturday at 10:30 PM ET/ 7:30 PM PT on HBO.
IDLE PUERTO RICAN RETURNS VS. REAL MIDDLEWEIGHT
When we last saw Miguel Cotto, the Puerto Rican superstar was relentlessly assaulting former middleweight champion Sergio Martinez from the opening bell in route to a corner forced stoppage victory (W TKO 10). After (seemingly) turning in one of his best performances of his career against the once top “pound for pound” elite scrapper Martinez; Miguel has not fought in almost a year and this will be his first fight with promoter Jay Z’s company Roc Nation Sports, hence the call for facing “soft opposition” in choosing Geale.
CLOSER LOOK AT COTTO
Fundamentally, Miguel Cotto doesn’t do one thing great but overall he does everything sufficiently well. Miguel showcases a hybrid of facets that are important neccesities in the pugilistic world. The Puerto Rican star take a punch, had power at the lighter weights, decent hand speed, above average foot movement, overall a savvy boxing I.Q., and adequate counter-punching skills. However in the past, Miguel has often had a tendency to let emotion dictate his tempo. This is usually to his undoing and can be extremely hazardous against high level opponents at 160. As I said earlier, Geale not considered a “high level” middleweight.
GEALE LAST SEEN GETTIN’ SPANKED BY “GGG”
A decent boxer hailing from Australia, Daniel Geale since his pro debut in 2004, has fought some solid B class opposition resulting in him picking up an alphabet title strap. Such accolades brought forth a step up in class and an offer to take on world destroyer Gennady Golovkin (33-0, 30 stops). For a nice pay day (in what looked more like a mugging then a boxing match), GGG savagely beat down the lesser skilled Geale and became the only man to stop (L TKO 3) Daniel at this point and time.
Sig’s Pick: Miguel is going to show some rust early but after about 3 rounds will begin to bust up Geale and perhaps even stop him late. Simply put Geale is not on this level of combat as he is the true definition of a B fighter. *Note: this fight will be contested at a catch weight of 157 as per demand of Cotto.
“GHOST” TOPS P.B.C. ON NBC
The first card on TV Saturday is Al Haymon’s successful boxing time share series “Premier Boxing Champions” returns for another intriguing night at the fights when former belt holder Robert “Ghost” Guerrero (32-3-1, 18 KOs) takes on frivolous unknown pug Aaron Martinez (19-3-1, 4 KOS) at the StubHub Center in Carson, CA with the NBC show starting at 3 PM ET/ 12 PM PT.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
No need for a Sig Pick here…should be easy working for Robert in what is an obvious “keep busy” type affair after his tough scrap with Keith Thurman (L UD 12) a few months back.
John Signorella
SIGNORELLA ON COTTO-GEALE & NBC TOO