Cotto pummels Geale at Barclays Center

Retains WBC Middleweight Crown with Fourth-Round Stoppage

June 9, 2015 By John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Miguel Cotto lifts his left arm in triumph after using it to nearly knock challenger Daniel Geale out of the ring Saturday night at Downtown’s Barclays Center. AP photo

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Thanks to Miguel Cotto, there will be a little extra swagger in the steps of the thousands of Brooklynites who will Salsa their way down Fifth Avenue in Sunset Park on Sunday evening during our borough’s first official Puerto Rican Day Parade since the late 1980s.

That’s because Cotto, the only Puerto Rican fighter ever to win championships in four different weight classes, demolished Australian challenger Daniel Geale in four furious rounds Saturday night at Downtown’s Barclays Center, scoring his 33rd career knockout and retaining his WBC Middleweight belt.

The 34-year-old ring veteran, who traditionally fights in New York prior to the annual Puerto Rican Day Parade along Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, had the majority of just over 12,000 fans packed into the state-of-the-art arena on his side during his Brooklyn debut.

Geale (31-4), a two-time world champ in his own right, was clearly outnumbered and ultimately out-slugged by Cotto (40-4). The champion put him down with a thunderous left hook in the fourth round and barraged him into submission thereafter, scoring another knockdown with a big right, before Referee Harvey Dock stopped the bout midway through the stanza.

“The first knockdown I was going to throw the left hand. As I threw it he put his right hand down and boom,” Cotto told the Associated Press after improving to 11-1 all-time in New York bouts, and 1-0 at the Barclays Center, Brooklyn’s new home for professional boxing, which hosted its 13th card.

And just like Amir Khan, who set himself up for a potential Labor Day showdown with Floyd Mayweather after beating Chris Algieri here the previous weekend, Cotto likely punched his way to a mega-fight with Canelo Alvarez later this year.

“If the people want that fight to happen, it will happen.” Cotto insisted. “I think it is a good fight, but I like any next fight.”

“Canelo is a young guy coming up, and Miguel is a guy that is getting better and better at what he does,” added Cotto’s trainer, Freddie Roach.

Geale, who nearly flew out of the ring on the first knockdown, couldn’t muster much of a challenge against the pro-Cotto crowd or Cotto himself, instead falling to 0-3 all-time in his visits to fight in the United States.

“I am so disappointed,” he said. “It went too fast and I am extremely disappointed.”

Cotto, who rejuvenated his career by beating Sergio Martinez at Madison Square Garden prior to last year’s P.R. Parade, isn’t likely to be in Sunset Park this weekend.

But the proud Puerto Rican thanked his people, and New Yorkers in general, for helping him secure his latest victory, and his next big payday against Alvarez.

“Being away, training in Los Angeles for 10 weeks and coming here [to Brooklyn] and winning like this was a great thrill,” Cotto said.