Shaw: Golovkin Knocks Out Cotto, Should Stay Away
By Keith Idec
NEW YORK – After watching Gennady Golovkin demolish Daniel Geale on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden, Gary Shaw offered Miguel Cotto a bit of gratuitous advice.
If Shaw were Cotto’s promoter, he’d steer the Puerto Rican icon as far away from Golovkin as possible.
“He knocks Cotto out,” said Shaw, who promotes Australia’s Geale (30-3, 16 KOs). “Cotto’s got a style that’s made for Golovkin. Cotto’s going to stand there and trade with him. I have a lot of respect for Cotto. He’s had a great career. But Golovkin is just on another level.”
Cotto, fresh off a domination of onetime undisputed middleweight champ Sergio Martinez that rejuvenated his Hall-of-Fame career, is expected to return to the ring Dec. 13 at Madison Square Garden. Opponents have barely been discussed yet, but sources close to Cotto are certain he won’t fight Golovkin next.
A middleweight championship unification bout between the 33-year-old Cotto (39-4, 32 KOs), who holds the WBC 160-pound title, and the 32-year-old Golovkin, the IBO/WBA champion, likely would sell out 21,000-seat Madison Square Garden rather quickly.
The Cotto-Martinez match, Cotto’s ninth main event at Madison Square Garden since June 2005, drew a capacity crowd of 21,090 on June 7. The card headlined by Golovkin-Geale, which Golovkin won by third-round knockout, marked Golovkin’s first fight in the Garden’s main arena and drew a respectable announced crowd of 8,572.
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.
