Miguel Cotto vs. Daniel Geale: Live Round-by-Round Results and Highlights

Miguel Cotto successfully defended his lineal and WBC Middleweight Championships with a fourth-round knockout of former champion Daniel Geale on Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

The fight was over pretty much from the moment it started before an announced crowd of 12,157 pro-Cotto fans. 

Cotto (40-4, 33 KO) was dominant from the opening bell. He ripped vicious hooks to Geale's midsection in the opening round and continued that trend in each frame that followed. 

The Puerto Rican felled his man twice in the fourth, prompting referee Harvey Dock to intervene and stop the carnage at 1:28 of the round.

By that point the result was academic.

Geale (31-4, 16 KO) looked like an absolute shell of the fighter who held a share of the middleweight crown on multiple occasions, most recently in 2013. He appeared badly weight drained by having to cut off 10-plus pounds in the week before the fight to meet the 157-pound catchweight.

Cotto will likely face Saul "Canelo" Alvarez in a huge pay-per-view showdown in the fall.

Asked by HBO's Max Kellerman in the ring after the knockout, Cotto took a long pause before responding to a question about whether he'd like to face WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin, who was sitting ringside. 

Cotto eventually responded that he'd face him "if he's available" after Canelo.

He also addressed his status as a middleweight, asking Kellerman if he felt he was a true 160-pound fighter after weighing in at 153.6 pounds—below the junior-middleweight limit—on Friday. 

You didn't have to read too far between the lines to get your answer to that question.

Kevin McRae is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. You can follow him on Twitter @McRaeBoxing.