Cotto hires Steward for Foreman title fight

Miguel Cotto has changed trainers again.

The three-time world champion hired Hall of Famer Emanuel Steward to work his corner when he faces Yuri Foreman on June 5 in the first boxing event at the new Yankee Stadium. The fight will be for Foreman’s WBA super welterweight title.

“I’ve always been a big fan of Miguel Cotto,” said Steward, who replaces Joe Santiago, who worked Cotto’s corner in his lopsided loss to Manny Pacquiao on Nov. 14. “He’s willing to fight everyone at 140 and 147 pounds, and he always gives his best effort.”

Santiago will remain part of Team Cotto. He had replaced Cotto’s uncle, Evangelista Cotto, who was lead trainer in 2009 when Cotto fought Joshua Clottey.

Steward initially had talked to Foreman’s manager, Murray Wilson, about working with Foreman. But instead, Steward will be working against Foreman, who is 28-0 with eight knockouts.

“I didn’t know where I stood with Foreman,” Steward said. “I was not going to be the lead trainer, and we never really got together.”

Wilson said he has moved on but is disappointed with Steward.

“We had a deal,” Wilson said. “Then, a few weeks later, Manny is with Cotto. He never called me.

“He’s not welcome around Yuri.”

Steward, who works as an analyst for HBO, said he has been promised complete control over Cotto’s camp and that his goal for Cotto, who is 34-2 with 27 knockouts, is simple.

“All I want to do is bring back the Miguel Cotto from four years ago,” he said.

■ FUNEKA TESTS POSITIVE — Things have gone from bad to worse for Ali Funeka.

First, the lightweight from South Africa found himself facing an overweight Joan Guzman in their March 27 IBF title fight at the Hard Rock Hotel, a fight he lost in a 12-round split decision in which Guzman was 9 pounds over the 135-pound limit.

Now, Funeka has tested positive for hydrochlorothiazide, a diuretic that is on the Nevada Athletic Commission’s banned substance list. Funeka faces a suspension and fine when the commission meets Friday.

Funeka made $140,000 for the fight. Ironically, Guzman was fined 25 percent of his purse, about $31,000, for missing the weight limit so blatantly. Now, it appears both fighters will be handing over money to the state.

■ PETER TITLE SHOT? — Top Rank chairman Bob Arum is pushing for IBF heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko to fight Samuel Peter, the No. 2-ranked contender.

Alexander Povetkin is the IBF’s No. 1 challenger.

“If Povetkin doesn’t take the fight, Klitschko is obligated to defend against Samuel Peter,” Arum said. “We plan to pursue that on behalf of Samuel.”

Peter, who is from Nigeria but lives and trains in Las Vegas, is 34-3 with 27 knockouts. He lost the WBC title to Vitali Klitschko on an eighth-round technical knockout in October 2008 in Germany.

In Peter’s most recent fight, he scored a second-round TKO over Nagy Aguilera on March 12 in Grapevine, Texas.

■ REMEMBERING LORRAINE — The boxing world lost one of its more popular figures with the death of Lorraine Chargin on Tuesday after a brief battle with cancer. She was 79.

Chargin and her husband, Don, promoted fights in California and Nevada for more than 40 years.

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913.