By Dan Ambrose: Sampson Lewkowicz, the adviser for WBC middleweight champion Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez (51-2-2, 28 KO’s), says that the 39-year-old Martinez is willing to fight Miguel Cotto (38-4, 31 KO’s) at a catch-weight of 158 lbs. if he’s willing to take the fight. Cotto, 32, hasn’t said whether he wants to face Martinez or not, but his trainer Freddie Roach thinks Cotto is the fighter that can beat Martinez at this stage in his career.

Sampson said this on his twitter:

@danrafaelespn @RealMiguelCotto @maravillabox @loudibella @eaag @ToddDuboef Maravilla willing to fight @158 lbs for is @WBCBoxing Title

— Sampson Lewkowicz (@SampsonBoxing) October 6, 2013

Cotto and Roach might be barking up the wrong tree if they decide to take this fight because this isn’t Delvin Rodriguez, Yuri Foreman or an Antonio Margarito with a bad eye. Martinez is a much better fighter than those guys with much more power, skills, speed and a southpaw stance.

The 5’7″ Cotto would be giving up 3 inches in height to the 5’10” Martinez and a huge 6 inches in reach. That’s too much size for the smallish Cotto to be giving away, especially when you consider that Cotto is even small for the junior middleweight division. Cotto is more like a pumped up light welterweight that filled out to the junior middleweight division, but he doesn’t have the frame for the 154 lb. division, and he definitely doesn’t have the frame to be taking on middleweights like Sergio Martinez.

Roach is too ambitious for his own good. If he was the one in there fighting Martinez then it wouldn’t matter so much, but it’s Cotto. He’s the one that will be taking a beating in this fight and I don’t think it’s a good thing for him. He’s lost 2 out of his last 3 fights to Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Austin Trout, and just because he beat a mediocre fighter in Devlin Rodriguez, Roach is already talking like he’s new and improved. I didn’t see much of any improvement in Cotto. What I mainly saw was that he was facing a weak opponent in Rodriguez. I’ve never seen Rodriguez ever beat a good fighter before, so it wasn’t surprising that he folded quickly against Cotto.

If Team Cotto is smart they’ll turn down the Rodriguez fight and look to face Saul “Canelo” Alvarez instead, if they can get the fight. At least Cotto and Canelo are a little closer in height than with him and Sergio Martinez. As long as Cotto can get Canelo to agree to a rehydration limit to keep him from ballooning up to the 170s, then it’s a much better fight than facing Sergio Martinez. Canelo is a lot more popular than Sergio, and a loss to him won’t look as bad. A loss to the nearly 40-year-old Martinez would be a big deal for Cotto.

Cotto doesn’t do well against fighters that use movement. We saw that in his losses to Trout and Mayweather. For him to be even thinking of fighting Sergio at this point is insane because he’s all wrong for him. If Roach wants someone to fight Sergio Martinez then he needs to persuade Manny Pacquiao into taking the fight because Cotto is just too small and slow to complete against him.