Tweet

Share
 

new york  |  Yuri Foreman lost his first title defense, but the Orthodox Jewish boxer gained plenty of respect on a balmy evening in Yankee Stadium.

Foreman continued to fight through what he called “sharp pain” in his knee in the last three rounds of his June 5 World Boxing Association junior middleweight championship bout against three-time champion Miguel Cotto.

The 29-year-old rabbinical student, a native of Belarus who immigrated to Israel and now lives in Brooklyn, slipped several times during the bout and suffered a torn meniscus in his right knee in the seventh round. The New York Post reported this week that he will have surgery.

The previously undefeated Foreman fought on before referee Arthur Mercante Jr. stopped the match 42 seconds into the ninth round following a hard Cotto right to Foreman’s midsection. A round earlier, Mercante had refused to halt the fight even though Foreman’s corner had thrown a white towel into the ring.

Going into the fight, Forman was the WBA (World Boxing Association) champion in the junior middleweight class — and a growing number of fans had rallied behind the first Jewish boxing champ in more than 50 years. He captured the title last November.

The June 5 loss by TKO (technical knockout) could have soured some of the new fans, but his appeal might grow thanks to his willingness to keep on fighting despite the injury. Even Cotto’s fans were impressed.

“I respect him because he tried to fight Cotto — key word ‘tried,’ ” said Hector Aponte, a Hispanic man from the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, who took home an Israeli flag out of respect for Foreman’s effort. “The thing you got to respect is even when his leg went out, he still fought.”

As for the Israeli flag he was carrying, Aponte said, “I’ll go and hang it on my wall next to my Puerto Rican boxing gloves.”

Cotto, who previously held two other world titles, now has a 35-2 record with 28 knockouts. He was ahead on all three scorecards when Foreman (28-1) slipped in the seventh round and limped back to the corner at the bell. Foreman was guaranteed $750,000 for the fight, while Cotto received a guaranteed $2 million.

The bout was the first title fight at Yankee Stadium in 34 years, since Muhammad Ali beat Ken Norton in the old stadium in 1976.

Foreman came into the bout not known for his power, registering only eight knockdowns in his 28 victories. He tried to persevere against the stalking Cotto, but was mostly stripped of his trademark ability to move from side to side.

“I’m a world champion — now a former world champion — and you don’t just quit. A world champion needs to keep on fighting,” Foreman said after the fight. This week, he said he wanted a rematch against Cotto.

Foreman entered the canopied ring to the sound of the shofar and a recording of the late Lubavitcher rebbe singing — and as a 2-1 underdog. Puerto Rican flags for Cotto prevailed over the Israeli pennants for Foreman, and chants of “Cotto, Cotto” dominated from the crowd of 20,273. The national anthems of Puerto Rico and Israel were sung prior to the bout.

Cotto was the aggressor throughout the fight and was well ahead on all three scorecards when the bout was stopped. Foreman prevailed in only round, the fourth, winning 10-9 on each card, notably with a solid left-right combination. But he also slipped for the first time in that three-minute session.

His face cut and bruised, Foreman said he was “emotionally upset” and that he had “a lot of supporters” in the crowd. Well-wishers speaking Hebrew offered their consolation.

After the bout, Foreman said his leg injury could be traced back to when he was 15 and living in Israel, when he fell off his bike.

“[Foreman] makes all of us proud,” said Jerry Kahn, a comedian and an Orthodox Jew who attended the fight. “He’s a very classy guy.”

Uriel Heilman of JTA and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

most popular rss feeds