Boxing Preview: Miguel Cotto – Oktay Urkal

Hotly Anticipated Edison Miranda – Allan Green Clash On Undercard

Miguel Cotto puts his WBA Welterweight crown at risk for the first time tonight as the popular Puerto Rican fighter faces three time former world title challenger Oktay Urkal at Coliseo Roberto Clemente in San Juan. Also on tap is the mouth watering middleweight showdown between hammer fisted Edison Miranda and hot prospect Allan Green.

Cotto, 28-0 (23), was one of the top light welters, holding the WBO crown from 2004 to 2006 until problems making weight forced the left hook artist into the welterweight division.
In December of last year, Cotto won the vacant WBA title that Ricky Hatton had given up by pounding previously unbeaten prospect Carlos Quintana into submission in five rounds.

The man Cotto will face in the opposite corner tonight is far more experienced than Quintana and Okay Urkal may well be the toughest assignment that Cotto has yet to face to date over a 28 bout career.

Urkal, 38-3 (12), is an iron chinned southpaw who has held the European title at both light welter and welter. The 37 year old gave longtime IBF 140 lb Champion Kostya Tszyu hell in 2001 before losing a razor thin, controversial decision to then WBA Light Welter Champion Vivian Harris in 2004. Urkal was stopped for the only time in his career during the return bout six months later but has since decisioned Frederick Klose and Maxim Nesterenko in his native Germany.

With Urkal enjoying sizable reach and height advantages along with an awkward southpaw style and granite chin, Cotto will likely mount a sustained body assault designed to break down the older fighter, who was stopped by Harris from exhaustion as much as anything else.

With Urkal having very little pop in his punches to keep off the champion, look for Cotto to post a decision win, but not without some significant difficulties, especially if the challenger can take advantage of Cotto’s frequent lulls.

In a must see ten round undercard bout, a bad blood affair has been taking shape for weeks between Edison Miranda and Allan Green. Green, 23-0 (16), is a sharp punching super middlewight and will have to make the contracted weight limit of 162 pounds for this bout.

The Oklahoma based prospect will be taking a huge step up in class to face the tremendously hard punching Miranda, 27-1 (24), who stopped world class Howard Eastman, obliterated a solid opponent in Willie Gibbs and broke IBF Middleweight Champion Arthur Abraham’s jaw in two places during an amazingly brutal affair that Miranda lost in controversial fashion.

Look for a fight of the year type contest to break out as long as it lasts….