By Dan Ambrose: Miguel Cotto (38-4, 31 KO’s) finally came out and announced today that he plans on trying to face WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (51-2-2, 28 KO’s) on June 7th in what he hopes will be at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Cotto had a bigger offer of $10 million+ made by Golden Boy Promotions to fight Saul “Canelo” Alvarez next on March 8th, but Cotto likes the idea of fighting Martinez, because he has the WBC 160 lb. title in his possession and Cotto likes the idea of trying to capture a fourth division world title against the aging 38-year-old Martinez.
“I want to go with Martinez,” Cotto said via Fight Hype. “My history is at Madison Square Garden and I want to fight there. My priority is to seek a fourth title and we are hopeful that it will be against Martinez.”
It’s obviously a better deal for Cotto because Martinez looked terrible in his last fight against a very average Martin Murray last April, and he’s to the point in his career where he’s suffering injuries during his fights. Martinez suffered a knee and hand injury in his win over former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. last year in September. And then in Martinez’s last fight against Martin Murray in April, Martinez broke his left hand and injured his knee again. Cotto is getting Martinez right at the perfect moment in his career to where he’s now beatable.
The question you have to ask is why isn’t Cotto looking to fight the best middleweight in the division in WBA champion Gennady Golovkin? If Cotto’s idea is try and accomplish something really big that would make his mark in boxing, then it would seem like the still in his prime Golovkin would be the much better option for Cotto. Sergio is a good fighter but it’s pretty clear that he would be beaten badly if he were to agree to fight Golovkin, which it doesn’t seem like Sergio will ever do. Golovkin wants the fight, but Sergio has shown no interest in that fight.
What does Cotto do if he wins the fight against the still healing Martinez? Does he choose to defend the title against the less than appealing contenders like Marco Antonio Rubio and Domenica Spada, or does he vacate the belt and go back down to 154 to try capturing a title at that weight?
It might be better for Cotto to stay at 160, because the WBC has mostly weak contenders ranked in their top 15, and Cotto can probably keep the WBC title for a long time as long as he doesn’t try and fight Golovkin, who would probably knock him out easily. I don’t think Cotto will ever face Golovkin. I see him taking it carefully and not taking any risky fights if he can get past the soon to be 39-year-old Martinez.
If Cotto goes back down to 154, it’ll be next to impossible for him to avoid guys like Demetrius Andrade, Erislara Landy, and Canelo. I think all of those guys would beat Cotto the same way that Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Austin Trout did.
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