Why Cotto can beat Martinez

By Bradley Dee - 02/18/2014 - Comments

cotto22By Bradley Dee: I started watching Miguel Cotto way back when he was a Jr. Welterweight. This was a young, strong fighter who did what a lot of boxers were not doing, attacking the body. In his early years, Cotto was always committed to the body and the dividends that bodywork pays, either sooner, or later in a fight.

Fast forward and Cotto moves up to welterweight, and the bodywork is still there. Little by little though, there’s less body attack as he moves up in weight. Eventually, he focuses less on the body and more on the head. Now at 154 pounds he’s well above his natural weight, and with several losses under his belt, he’s looking to move back to that original strategy of body attack after losing lopsided decisions against Austin Trout and Floyd Mayweather.

Now it’s 2014, Cotto has lost the last 2 out of 3, and is now doing what seems impossible. He wants the middleweight title. Not just any middleweight, THE middleweight champion. I know some of you will point at GGG, I don’t feel that Sergio is a more dangerous fight than Triple G by any means. Cotto cannot beat GGG, that style is all wrong for him. GGG is too big, too strong for Cotto to stand in the trenches and go toe to toe against. Martinez however, is reaching the end of a great career that really started in his older years. In his last couple of fights, Martinez has shown weakness. Martinez is known for his movement and awkward style, and without that movement, he can tend to be a sitting duck and get hit, and even knocked down, ala Martin Murray, a very close fight.

Cotto may be catching Martinez at the right time in his career to make this a winnable fight. Martinez will come into this fight with over a year off. A post surgery, long layoff Martinez could be beatable. To do this, Cotto must fight the perfect fight. Keep Martinez on those bum knees as much as possible. Cut off the ring. Fire hooks to the body. Make Martinez work every second of every round. And should Cotto actually win the fight, he’ll probably have to win a rematch unless Martinez retires. Either way all of this is bad news for Gennady Golovkin who looks like he’ll still be waiting a long long time to unify middleweight.



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