Emanuel Steward stopped short of calling Yuri Foreman a dirty fighter, but the veteran trainer yesterday said Foreman is capable of inflicting as much damage with his head as with his fists when he defends his junior middleweight title against Miguel Cotto Saturday night at Yankee Stadium.
Steward, who will be working his first fight as Cotto’s trainer, said Foreman “butts a lot,” meaning Foreman’s head often collides with his opponent’s, a violent contact that can lead to cuts.
“His style is moving, moving, moving and then he runs in and does that,” Steward said, adding “I don’t think it’s necessarily intentional. It’s just the way he fights.”
Steward’s analysis didn’t sit well with Foreman’s manager, Murray Wilson. He and Steward have been at odds since Steward inquired about advising Foreman before taking the job as Cotto’s head trainer. Plenty of ill will remains and was reignited when the issue of head butts was mentioned.
“Manny is positioning himself for losing,” Wilson said. “I take whatever Manny says with a grain of salt. He said somewhere that Yuri punches like a woman. Well, let Manny come over and let Yuri smack him in the mouth if he thinks he hits like a woman.”
Wilson didn’t dismiss the notion that heads could collide during the much anticipated bout for Foreman’s title. Head butts aren’t unusual in boxing. But at 5-foot-11, Foreman is four inches taller than Cotto and would have to crouch in order to bump noggins.
“Yuri gets head-butted because of his style of fighting,” Wilson said. “He leans over and if he’s fighting a short guy, so who knows? But we don’t want to be head-butted.”
While the boxers have been respectful of each other throughout the promotion, Wilson and Steward have been jawing back and forth, with Steward defending his overture to Foreman before working with Cotto (34-2, 27 KOs). Wilson said Steward initially approached him, saying he could show Foreman (28-0, 8 KOs) how to improve his knockout power.
“I said, ‘Sure come in for a couple of weeks,’ and we made an agreement,” Wilson said. “But he used me as leverage to go with Cotto. If you go back three years, he wanted Cotto three years ago. I only disrespected Manny now because he didn’t call me on the phone and say, ‘Murray I’m going with Cotto’ and I would have given him my blessings. If he has a full-time job, who am I to step in his way? He wasn’t going to be my full-time trainer and if he hooked up with a good deal, God bless him.”
Steward said his concerns about Foreman’s head have nothing to do with Wilson, but stem from comments made by Cornelius Bundrage, a fringe contender who fought Foreman in June 2009 in Atlantic City. That fight was stopped in the third round and ruled a no contest when the referee ruled Foreman received an unintentional head butt and couldn’t continue.
“I wasn’t there that night,” Steward said, “but [Bundrage] was training with us and he said [Foreman] runs in with his head when he punches. That could easily be a factor and then we’ll have to run for the scorecards.”
That’s one reason why Steward said Cotto has to start fast and take the fight to Foreman, who is making his first title defense.
“It’s a fight we have to come out right away and start working,” Steward said.
Promoters said plenty of “quality tickets” remain available at all prices. The weather is expected to be in the mid-60s with only a 10 percent chance of rain.