By Carlos Boogs
For the second time in his career, former champion Daniel Geale traveled over to New York City and saw himself get stopped in the early rounds. Last year he was stopped by WBA/IBO middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin in three rounds. On Saturday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, WBC champion middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (40-4, 33 KOs) stopped him in four.
Cotto will now move forward, at least on paper, in the direction of finalizing a fall showdown with superstar Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (45-1-1, 32KOs) of Mexico.
Canelo was in action last month, stopping James Kirkland in three rounds.
I've had 44 fights in my career and Canelo is just going to be another one, the next chapter in my career. But first of all, before the Canelo fight happens.....I want the fight, people want the fight, everyone wants the fight...let's do it. But, before that I want to spend time with my family. I want to enjoy time with them and then I'll be back in LA training for Canelo," Cotto said.
Cotto's mandatory challenger, under the WBC, is Golovkin. Cotto made it clear that Canelo is going to come first - and then Golovkin can happen next year if their respective schedules are open.
"Why not? But, we need to do our fights. Canelo sounds [like he's going to] be the next one. And then if Gennady is available and he wants to fight, I'm available to," Cotto said.