Cotto vs. Martinez: HBO’s Face Off w/ Max Kellerman (Review)

By Boxing News - 05/18/2014 - Comments

YouTube video

By Rocky Esposito: Wow! Excellent, that’s all I can say! Call me naive, but the disdain that these two fighters have for each other is actually real and palpable. I heard mostly all of their comments/slights towards each other before the airing of their “Face Off” episode and I initially chalked it up typical Pre-Fight Hype. However, after watching their Face Off, you can tell, (especially from Sergio Martinez), he sincerely dislikes Cotto.

What makes all of this actually significant is the fact that this already has all the ingredients of being a very good, competitive, action packed fight. Mostly all the Boxing fans I know are looking forward to this fight. So, the tension/hostility between both fighters makes it even that much more compelling.

Sergio Martinez (51-2-2 / 28 KOs), the current WBC Middleweight Champion of the World is considered by his opponent Miguel Cotto (38-4 / 31 KOs) to be the (B) side of their equation/matchup. Needless to say, Martinez feels disrespected by Cotto’s classification. During the interview, Martinez also revealed that Cotto made what he summed up as Diva Demands. Miguel requested that he fight out of the Red corner, that he be allowed to come to the ring last, and a lot of other things. Martinez then made an interesting point… He explained (correctly) that those things are all really meaningless once the fights starts. ”Where Cotto could have really damaged me and where he could have taken advantage, he didn’t do it. He could have played with fewer pounds and destroyed my body. I was going to accept 157 pounds, or 156 pounds”. At this point Miguel quickly jumped in and basically told Sergio when the meeting started and the issue of Weight was discussed, Cotto said he first started with “158”. He in return was told, “No, Sergio can’t do less than 159 pounds”. Cotto then said in response, “OK. Fine. I’m not going to stop this fight for one pound”. Sergio did not debate this topic any further.

What really caught my attention was the very next topic, ”The Name of the Fight”. Cotto tried explaining to Sergio that their fight/equation has an A Side and a B side, and that he (Cotto) is the A Side of the equation. Cotto tried justifying his statement by explaining to Martinez that he has fought at Madison Square Garden nine times, all sell outs, and that he has been fighting on PPV. Martinez quickly retaliated, “How many Class A’s have you fought”? Cotto responded, “Ah! I have fought two”. Martinez then sarcastically responded with, “And, you won both? Ah! Right, you lost. Sorry. I don’t know how you can be a Class A if you’ve never beaten one”.

The back and forth went on for the rest of the interview and was very entertaining. If you have not seen it yet, it is a much watch. I just hope the actual fight lives up to the high expectations! God Bless!



Comments are closed.