By Keith Idec
Much has been made about the number 157, the catch weight Miguel Cotto and Daniel Geale cannot exceed when they step on the scale Friday afternoon.
The number 12, the amount of months Cotto has gone without competing in a boxing match, hasn’t received nearly as much attention during the buildup to their WBC middleweight title fight Saturday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. Cotto hasn’t fought since he annihilated Argentina’s Sergio Martinez to win the WBC 160-pound championship last June 7 at Madison Square Garden.
The 34-year-old Cotto has not fought more than twice in any calendar year since 2009, but this marks the longest layoff of the four-division champion’s 14-year pro career. If Geale believes that’s an advantage for him, the former IBF middleweight title-holder from Australia isn’t letting on.
“To be honest, I guess I have had that ring time a little bit more [than Cotto],” Geale said. “But I’m not taking anything away from Miguel. I know that he’s a seasoned professional. And whether he’s been out of the ring two months or 12 months or eight months, he’s going to be in good condition. So I’m not thinking too much into that.”
Geale, also 34, last fought Dec. 3. He bounced back that night from a third-round TKO loss to Gennady Golovkin (33-0, 30 KOs) four months earlier by out-boxing fellow Australian Jarrod Fletcher (18-3, 10 KOs) on his way to a 12-round unanimous-decision win in Moore Park, New South Wales, Australia.
HBO will televise the scheduled 12-round bout between Geale (31-3, 16 KOs) and Puerto Rico’s Cotto (39-4, 32 KOs) during a telecast set to begin at 10:30 p.m. ET/7:30 p.m. PT.
Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.