Arum wants Cotto to face Sergio Martinez next

By Boxing News - 10/06/2013 - Comments

cotto75By Dan Ambrose: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum and trainer Freddie Roach both want Miguel Cotto (38-4, 31 KO’s) to face WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (51-2-2, 28 KO’s) for his WBC 160 lb. strap in his next fight following his 3rd round TKO win last Saturday night of Delvin Rodriguez (28-7-3, 16 KO’s) in Orlando, Florida. A win over Sergio would give Cotto a 4th world division title.

Arum and Roach think that Cotto has the skills to be successful in moving up in weight. Sergio is still recovering from a hand and knee injury, and he won’t be available to fight until next year sometime depending on how well he rehabs his knee.

Arum told ESPN “I think that fight [Sergio Martinez] would be a natural progression. That should be a goal to fight for the middleweight championship. It would be a great accomplishment and it would mean loads of money for him [Cotto], the opponent.”

You’d have to favor Sergio Martinez to beat Cotto if that fight happens because Martinez uses a lot of movement, he has great defense, fast hands, big time power, and he fights out of the southpaw stance. Sergio would easily neutralize Cotto’s left hooks and limit him to an occasional jab and right hand. Southpaws always take away an orthodox opponents’ left hand. The only thing southpaws have problems with is right hands, and Cotto doesn’t have a great right hand.

WBA champion middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin wasn’t mentioned by Arum or Roach for Cotto, and it’s not surprising. It’s not a fight that Cotto would make a huge amount of money with because Golovkin isn’t as well known as Sergio is, and it’s pretty much a fight that Cotto would have no chance of winning because of Golovkin’s big power and skills.

I’d rather see Cotto fight Golovkin than the 39-year-old Sergio Martinez because the guy is almost 40-years-old is clearly showing major signs of slipping as a fighter in his last two performances. However, Top Rank isn’t likely going to steer Cotto into a fight where they would know that he has little chance of winning like a fight against Golovkin.

Roach was very pleased with Cotto’s win over Rodriguez, saying “Body shots broke him down and head shots finished him. Line ’em up. Cotto is ready to fight anyone.”

You have to put things in perspective here. Cotto just finished beating Delvin Rodriguez in what has to be considered a middle of the road fighter, and not someone that is truly at the upper spectrum of the junior middleweight division. The shots that Rodriguez was getting hit with by Cotto would have been blocked or they would have missed had that been Austin Trout in the ring instead of Rodriguez.

Trout dominated Cotto last December in beating him by a 12 round decision, and I doubt that would have changed much if he had been in the ring with Cotto last night. There some improvement with Cotto’s game with Roach having him throw more left hooks like he used to, but that’s about the only improvement I could see. Cotto is still easy to hit, and he’ll still take a lot of punishment when he faces quality opponents.



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