Foreman May Have More Power After Rehab, Says Varlotta

By Lem Satterfield

Former WBA junior middleweight (154 pounds) champion Yuri Foreman should be better overall when he makes his expected return to the ring in six months, that following Friday's surgery on his right knee to repair a torn ACL and meniscus, according to one of the physicians who treated him for those injuries.

The 29-year-old Foreman (28-1, eight knockouts) underwent a 90-minute surgery performed by Dr. Laith M. Jazrawi following the ligament tears that resulted in the Brooklyn resident twice falling to the canvas during the seventh round of an eventual ninth-round TKO loss on June 5 to Miguel Cotto (35-2, 28 KOs) at the new Yankee Stadium.

"Yuri Foreman's boxing game has a lot to do with mobility, so he's been a very mobile boxer, and the only thing that he can do is become more mobile with a stable knee," said Dr. Gerald Varlotta, who diagnosed the injury two days after the bout, and referred Foreman to Jazrawi. "Yuri will be able to push off better, stabilize better, and have more power in his punch."

After being hurt in the seventh round against Cotto, Foreman was declared the eventual loser when referee Arthur Mercante Jr. waved an end to the bout 42 seconds into the ninth round following a left hook to the body by Cotto that crumpled Foreman to the floor.

An associate professor of rehabilitation medicine at NYU's Rusk Institute and director of NYU's outpatient rehabilitation network, Varlotta was ringside for Foreman's loss to Cotto.

"I saw what everybody else saw, which is that in the seventh round, Yuri twisted his knee and ended up most likely tearing the meniscus," said Varlotta. "And then he bravely went on and continued fighting before it was later determined that he couldn't continue."

Varlotta "subsequently saw Yuri on Monday," in his office at NYU's Rusk Institute.

"On Monday, I spent the time going over the MRI scan with him, discussing options, examining his knee and determining with him and his wife and a representative of his what the best options were. And we discussed each of his options," said Varlotta.

"We determined after an MRI scan that there was an ACL tear that was there previously since the age of 15, and that he had a significant meniscus injury," said Varlotta. "So it was determined that instead of just taking care of the meniscus that would definitely provide him with temporary relief, that he would undergo the surgery to stabilize his knee and also take care of the meniscus."

Varlotta then referred Foreman to his NYU colleague, Dr. Jazrawi, who performed Friday's surgery on Foreman's right knee to repair both the torn ACL and meniscus. Jazrawi also cleaned out cartilage debris.

"Yuri Foreman had ACL reconstruction to stabilize his knee, and that went perfect. He has a brand new ACL. He's definitely going to be better now that his knee is stabilized," Jazrawi said of Foreman, who will begin a four-month rehabilitation program on Monday and could return to the ring in as early as sixth months.

"When when we do these surgeries, they are to basically stabilize the athletes so that they can get back to certain activities. With an intact ACL, for example, that slipping move that happened in the ring, Yuri's knee wouldn't have given out. That's basically what we do when we do the ACL reconstruction," said Jazrawi, director of sports medicine at NYU as well as an assistant professor of orthopedic surgery at NYU's hospital for joint diseases.

"When you have an athlete that's involved with a pivoting sport, it's crucial that they have their ACL," said Jazrawi. "Obviously, there are athletes who can accommodate for that, and athletes out there with deficient knees that seem to be able to deal with it. But certainly, it can become a problem as time goes on, and that's why he did the surgery."

Foreman told reporters during the post-fight press conference that the injury -- for which he wears a brace on his right knee during bouts -- was a chronic one that he initially suffered when he was about 15 years old.

"Any time that you have a deficient knee. you can be predisposed to Yuri's type of injury," said Jazrawi. "There was also some cartilage damage in there which we cleaned up as well, and which is typical in these athletes with ACL tears."

Born in Gomel, Belarus, and raised in Israel, and studying to be a rabbi, Foreman, in November, became the first Israeli to win a professional boxing title when he dethroned Puerto Rico's Daniel Santos by 12-round unanimous decision, twice dropping Santos during the bout.

But the fact that Foreman had had no major setbacks with his knee for the nearly 14 years since first being injured as a teenager was amazing, said Varlotta.

"The fact that Yuri got to the level that he did on this previous ACL injury was a absolutely miraculous feat of perseverance and endurance. He's going to be stronger and have better push off of his right knee and perhaps more
power and therefore better punching power and more stability," said Varlotta.

"[Dr. Jazrawi] is a high-level athlete himself," said Varlotta. "I trusted that Dr. Jazrawi would do the right operation and be there to help with the rehabilitation aspect and getting Yuri back to performing at a very high level. He can only go up with this stabilized knee."

Lem Satterfield is the boxing editor at AOL FanHouse and the news editor at BoxingScene.com. To read more from Lem Satterfield, go to AOL FanHouse by Clicking Here.