Daniel Geale is a huge underdog in his WBC middleweight title fight this Saturday on HBO vs. Miguel Cotto, but his promoter Gary Shaw thinks Cotto has erred if he believes this is a stepping stone to a larger bout vs. Canelo Alvarez.
Shaw has compared this matchup to Cotto's 2012 loss to Austin Trout, an unexpected struggle vs. an active and mobile challenger. Shaw also believes Cotto's win vs. Sergio Martinez was suspect because of Martinez's injury history.
"I don't take anything away from Cotto," Shaw said. "I like Cotto on a personal level. I think he's a great champion and he's going to be a Hall of Famer. But that Martinez was just a shot fighter so I don't give that fight any credence at all.
"It wasn't a fight. It was a one-legged fighter coming in and Freddie Roach and Cotto took advantage of it to their credit."
Ahead of Cotto's fight vs. Martinez though, he was the underdog with most observers thinking he'd be too small to hurt Martinez, even with a 159-pound catch weight in place. Cotto knocked Martinez down four times in the bout-three times in Round 1-and proved his power carried just fine. Against Geale, Cotto has imposed a 157-pound catch weight, three pounds below the middleweight limit. On a conference call earlier in the week, Shaw lashed out against the increasing volume of big fights contested at contractually bargained weights.
"Me personally, I do not believe in catch weights," Shaw said. "You can fight whatever you want but the other fighter should be able to weigh in at the divisional limit. This is how we confuse people."
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