Cotto-Foreman bring boxing back to Yankee Stadium

Miguel Cotto and Yuri Foreman will become part of New York boxing lore when they meet at Yankee Stadium for Foreman's World Boxing Association junior middleweight world title on June 5.

It will mark the first prize fight in more than three decades at Yankee Stadium. Just as the names have changed - from the likes of legendary Muhammad Ali and Ken Norton - so has the venue itself.

Cotto and Foreman will fight in the new 1.5 billion-dollar Yankee Stadium - inaugurated last year with a World Series-winning season by the Yankees.

It will be the first sports event other than baseball that the facility has hosted.

"How can anybody that has any kind of feeling for momentous things not be here?" promoter Bob Arum said.

The ring will be erected in right-center field with about 7,000 field-level seats.

The rest of the seating will be in the outfield bleachers and down the first-base line, and promoters hope between 30,000 and 35,000 fans show up.

"It's an honor fighting here," Foreman said. "It's a dream."

The list of those who boxed at the original Yankee Stadium is a roll call of ring greats: Harry Greb, Gene Tunney, Jack Dempsey and "Cinderella Man" James Braddock all fought here.

Joe Louis defeated German champion Max Schmeling on June 22, 1938, to avenge an earlier loss in the same ballpark.

Rocky Marciano won four straight fights there in the 1950s, before Ali and Norton fought on September 28, 1976.

"As a boxing fan, you can't forget any of those names," Yankees chief operating officer Lonn Trost said. "Yankee Stadium was, is and will always remain a fabric in the life of boxing."

Foreman, a self-proclaimed Yankees fan, is studying to become a rabbi and has backing from the large Jewish population in the New York area.

Cotto also has numerous fans in New York City who trace their roots to his native Puerto Rico. Cotto has headlined at Madison Square Garden several times on the eve of the Puerto Rican Day parade.

"I know it's going to be a tough fight for us, a tough fight for Yuri, too," Cotto said. "But we are owners of our own destiny, you know? We'll try hard, and I guarantee you we're going to make a great show."