Yuri Foreman will make another run after surgery rehab

Former WBA junior middleweight (154 pounds) champion, Yuri Foreman, will begin rehabbing on Monday, and could return to the ring in as early as sixth months following Friday's surgery on his right knee to repair a torn ACL and meniscus as well as to clean out debris, according to a recent e-mailed statement from the Brooklyn resident's publicist.

The 90-minute surgery was performed by Dr. Laith M. Jazrawi, this, as a result of an injury that caused Foreman's twice falling to the canvas in the seventh round of an eventual, June 5, ninth-round knockout loss to Miguel Cotto at Yankee Stadium.

According to the release, Foreman will be on crutches for two weeks, participate in rehabilitation for approximately four months, and "If all goes well, he's back in the gym in six months."

The 29-year-old Foreman (28-1, eight knockouts) told reporters during the post-fight press conference that the injury -- for which he wears a brace on his right knee during bouts -- was a chronic one that he initially suffered when he was about 15 years old.

Foreman, who was released on Friday, was born in Gomel, Belarus, grew up in Israel, and, is studying to become a rabbi.

In November, Foreman became the first Israeli to win a professional boxing title when he dethroned Puerto Rico's Daniel Santos by 12-round, unanimous decision, flooring Santos twice during the bout.

Foreman was hurt in the last Saturday's seventh round of his fight against Cotto, which he eventually lost when referee Arthur Mercante Jr. waved it off 42 seconds into the ninth round after Cotto crumpled Foreman to the floor with a left hook to the body.

Miguel Cotto vs. Yuri Foreman Highlights (HBO Video)


Foreman visited Dr. Gerard Varlotta, a joint specialist at The Rusk Institute in New York, and was told on the Monday after the bout that he would need surgery on the knee. Foreman said Varlotta was ringside for the fight and saw the injury happen.

The aspiring rabbi hurt himself when he slipped to the canvas in the seventh round on a steamy night in the Bronx. Foreman elected to continue fighting, even though he could barely move around, and survived to the end of the round.

Early in the eighth, Foreman was trading blows with Cotto when his lead trainer, Joe Grier, threw a white towel into the ring to stop the fight

Mercante angrily tossed the towel out, even though dozens of people were already flooding through the ropes.

Mercante overruled the towel, believing that it had come from a source other than Foreman's trainer, even as he later found out that that was not the case.

Mercante, instead, asked Foreman whether he wanted to keep fighting, to which the ex-champion answered, "Yes," after which the ring was cleared and the bout continued.

"I heard that someone was yelling, 'Stop the fight, stop the fight,' and then, the towel was thrown in. At that moment, I didn't know who threw the towel in, although I have a pretty good idea who did it now," said Mercante, acknowledging that the towel came from Grier.

Grier's actions were a response to Foreman's wife, Leyla Leidecker, who pleaded loudly from near ringside for the trainer to stop the fight.

"When I resumed the fight, I called time to let both guys rest," said Mercante. "Yuri was always game to fight. Both men showed the mark of champions in a great fight tonight."

Foreman's biggest weapon is his speed and defense, and his movement was compromised by the balky right knee.

Cotto was able to stand in front of Foreman and finally landed a crushing body shot early in the ninth round that ended the fight.

In victory, Cotto earned the WBA junior middleweight crown to become the sixth Puerto Rican fighter to win a fourth title over the course of three weight classes.

Cotto also received a guaranteed $2 million to Foreman's $750,000 for the bout.

Foreman said that besides the knee injury, he came out of the first main event at Yankee Stadium in more than three decades in good shape-a few bumps and bruises and some swelling from the barrage of blows landed by Cotto, now a three-division world champion.

"I was there the entire fight. The brace is for an old injury. I was making side-to-side movements, however, and it just gave out. I felt a sharp pain and that's why I went down," said Foreman afterward.

"Arthur Mercante let me try to work it out. I'm a world champion, or a former world champion," said Foreman. "I would have never quit. I did not want the fight to be stopped."