Miguel Cotto knows that when Miguel Cotto fights its a big deal for the boxing world (and Miguel Cotto). Fans of third-person sports interviews and 157 lb middleweights rejoice; Cotto is fighting Australia’s Daniel Geale this week. That’s almost it for the boxing schedule, really, though there are some club fights on Tuesday and a somewhat underwhelming “Premier Boxing Champions” card on Saturday on NBC (and NBC Sports Net).
- Miguel Cotto vs Daniel Geale, Saturday, HBO, Brooklyn. The big event of the week is Puerto Rican star Miguel Cotto (39-4, 32 KO) defending his lineal middleweight title against Daniel Geale (31-3, 16 KO). Geale is a big underdog with the bookies, which I think is crazy; Cotto was undersized at junior middleweight (this fight is at 157 lbs) and has only fought a lame Sergio Martinez and Delvin Rodriguez in the last two and a half years. Before that it was a pair of losses and a career filled with give and take fights. With Geale’s size and boxing ability, I wouldn’t be surprised if he sprung the upset (I am Australian, though).
- Robert Guerrero vs Aaron Martinez, Saturday, NBC, Carson Calif. Hopefully this kind of matchmaking doesn’t become the norm for Al Haymon’s “Premier Boxing Champions” series. Welterweight Robert Guerrero (32-3-1, 18 KO) is looking to bounce back from losing to Keith Thurman earlier this year by taking on Aaron Martinez (19-3-1, 4 KO), who himself is fresh off a loss to Josesito Lopez. Look, it’s not the most offensive fight in the world, and Guerrero has a tendency to make things fun even when he wins, but it’s not really what you expect to see on network TV, is it? The undercard features 2012 heavyweight Olympian Dominic Breazeale, middleweight punching bag Alfredo Angulo (who looked like hot garbage in his last fight) and undersized, awkward featherweight Vic Darchinyan (40-7-1, 29 KO) who is somehow fighting for a world title against Jesus Cuellar (26-1, 20 KO), who should be too big and bad for him.
- Jayson Velez vs Daniel Ramirez, Thursday, Fox Sports Net/Fox Deportes, Los Angeles. Puerto Rican featherweight contender Jayson Velez (22-0-1, 16 KO) stays busy on Golden Boy’s LA club fight night against Daniel Ramirez (11-2, 5 KO)
Bonus: Miguel Cotto’s third-person next level third-person interview game
