By Lem Satterfield, FanHouse
NEW YORK --FanHouse caught up to WBA junior middleweight (154 pounds) champion, Yuri Foreman, on Saturday night while the soon-to-be rabbi was sitting ringside for his promoter, Top Rank's, HBO-televised featherweight (126-pound) championship double-header in Madison Square Garden's 5,000 capacity WaMu Theater.
As he sat there, the 29-year-old Foreman (28-0, eight knockouts) was among the overflow crowd of 5,142 -- many of whom were Puerto Ricans -- and got a taste for the greeting that may yet await him when he defends his crown against 29-year-old, former, two-time welterweight (147 pounds) champion, Miguel Cotto (34-2, 27 KOs), in the MSG's main arena on June 12.
In Saturday night's main event, Puerto Rico's Juan Manuel Lopez (28-0, 25 KOs) dethroned Steven Luevano (37-2-1, 15 KOs) of La Puente, Calif., with a seventh-round knockout to earn the WBO's featherweight crown.
Lopez-Luevano was preceded by a second-round knockout by WBA king Yuriorkis Gamboa (17-0, 15 KOs) over Tanzanian, Rogers Mtagwa (26-14-2, 18 KOs).
But even before the action began in the last two fights, Foreman, Cotto and former welterweight, junior middleweight, and middleweight champion, Felix Trinidad of Puerto Rico were introduced in the ring.
The two Puerto Ricans were loudly cheered, while Foreman, a Brooklyn resident, was roundly booed.
"Yeah, I'm ready, man. Today, they introduced me, and there were some boos here. You know, I guess there are going to be even more boos on June 12, you know?" said Foreman, who dethroned Puerto Rico's hard-hitting, southpaw, Daniel Santos (32-4-1, 23 KOs), on Nov. 14 by a one-sided, unanimous decision, twice flooring the ex-champion.
"But I'm looking forward to it, you know?," said Foreman, who was born in Gomel, Belarus, became the first Israeli citizen to win a professional boxing title, and is a rabbinical student.
"No one gave me a chance against Santos, but I was ready," said Foreman, all the while, shouting above the deafening noise of the screaming crowd. "And I'm looking forward to showcasing my skills in a big fight like that against Cotto."
Foreman and Cotto, who sat about eight seats apart throughout the night, had been invited to New York by Top Rank CEO, Bob Arum, to finalize the negotiations for their matchup.
Foreman had been considered an opponent for seven-division champion Manny Pacquiao after the WBO titlist's welterweight defense against Floyd Mayweather (40-0, 25 KOs) was disolved amid a negotiations impasse.
But Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38 KOs) has since elected to face Ghana's 32-year-old Joshua Clottey (35-3, 20 KOs) on March 13 at The Dallas Cowboys' Stadium in Arlington, Tex.
"Manny felt that Yuri was a bridge too far, and he was reluctant to fight him. I can understand that," said Arum, referring to the fact that the 5-foot-6 Pacquiao saw the 5-11 Foreman as perhaps too tall and rangy an opponent, even as there was a chance that Pacquiao could have earned an unprecedented eighth crown in as many different divisions.
A Bronx resident, Clottey is coming off of June's 12-round, split-decision loss to Cotto, whom Pacquiao dethroned via 12th-round knockout for the WBO crown on Nov. 14. Foreman defeated Santos on the undercard of Pacquiao-Cotto.
"I take it as a compliment that he didn't want to fight me. I'm as tall as Oscar De La Hoya," said Foreman, referring to the former world champion whom Pacquiao stopped in the eighth round in December of 2008.
"You know, they didn't want to fight me because of my height, my reach, and, basically my skills. I'm going to take it as a compliment," said Foreman. "[Pacquiao's trainer] Freddie Roach is a great trainer, and if he didn't want to fight me, I'll just take it as a compliment."
As far as facing Cotto, Foreman acknowledged that he may well be facing his greatest opponent -- even as Santos owns a victory over former world champion, Antonio Margarito, the other man to have beaten Cotto.
"Miguel Cotto is a great, great fighter and he was a great champion. I've always been watching his fights," said Foreman. "But you know, the opportunity to fight a great fighter like him, and to be in the same ring, and to have a chance at beating him would be a great, great thing for me."
Source: boxing.fanhouse.com
No comments:
Post a Comment