Miguel Cotto Wins at the Brawlpark: What's Next?

What a perfect comeback fight for Yankee Stadium. You want to talk about an old school fight, we had one last night.

Yuri Foreman is a fighter. You can’t argue that. He was out-punched, he was facing a better fighter, and he was hurt.

That wasn’t enough for him to stop fighting. Between the seventh and eighth rounds his corner asked him if he wanted it stopped and he limped his way back into the center of the ring and fought.

He was getting beat by the time he hurt the knee in the seventh round. He had won one round up to that point and the knee getting hurt didn’t cause him to lose.

The towel was thrown in the eighth round but in a move you may never see again the referee refused to accept it and started the fight up again. Foreman was a champion and he wanted it in his hands, which is totally understandable.

I have also never seen a referee, in this case Arthur Mercante Jr., be so vocal and tell one fighter to suck it up. He respects the fighters and lets them fight.

I feel like talking about Foreman’s bravery and guts takes away from the masterful performance that Miguel Cotto put together. He outboxed the bigger man who was the better boxer.

His footwork was very improved and he matched the lateral quickness that Foreman showed him. Many people, me included, thought that Foreman’s boxing ability and side to side movement would neutralize Cotto.

That wasn’t the case at all. Cotto boxed beautifully and landed his jab with great regularity (39-165 for a 24 percent connect rate). He also ended matters in the ninth with a patented left hook to the body.

After this win Cotto now holds a 154 pound title and looks to be back in top form. The beatings he took in the last few years look to not have affected him to much.

The marriage of Emmanuel Steward and Cotto looks very rejuvenated. There are a lot of good names at 154 and really after last night Cotto may be able to fight with any of them.

A fight with Alfredo Angulo would be a very fun one to watch if Cotto puts together a performance like last night. Paul Williams is also another option even if Cotto drops down to 147.

Kermit Cintron is another guy Cotto could target. He spent a lot of time at 147 and wouldn’t be that much bigger than what Cotto fought at 147.

If he wants another title he could simply go after Cory Spinks who is a quality fighter but long in the tooth.

For now it looks like he will stay at 154 and that is were he should be. The fighters at 154 have slower hands and the class is a little bit weaker than the 147 limit.

For now Cotto just needs to rest and plan out his next move. Foreman on the other hand probably made some new fans and hopefully he can come back and make another run at a title.

He is a classy guy has guts and is a true throwback fighter. I know I wouldn’t mind seeing him again.

The first fight at Yankees Stadium in 34 years was a good, fun, exciting slugfest. Cotto and Foreman made sure for this one night that Yankees Stadium wasn’t a ballpark but a brawlpark.

This article was orginally written for and published by www.sportsleak.com