Sergio Martinez: I’m going to use my intelligence to beat Cotto

By Boxing News - 05/20/2014 - Comments

martinez66By Dan Ambrose: WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (51-2-2, 28 KO’s) says he’s going to out-smart challenger Miguel Cotto (38-4, 31 KO’s) in their fight on June 7th, and knock him out well before the distance when the square off at Madison Square Garden, in New York, New York. Sergio’s surgically repaired knee as good as knew, and as good as it was before he injured it, he says.

“The real difference is going to be my intelligence & my ring generalship,” Martinez said. “There’s no doubt in my mind it’s gonna be an early stoppage. The judges are not gonna have to put in that much work on this evening. This fight is definitely not going the distance.”

Martinez won’t be the first that gave Cotto a beat down if he’s able to score a stoppage in this fight, but it’s not going to be easy. The only guys to stop Cotto were Antonio Margarito and Manny Pacquiao, and they both took a lot of punishment in knocking Cotto out. Margarito especially took a real beating until he was able to wear Cotto down in the last part of the fight to get a knockout in the 11th round.

“I’m totally focused on wrapping up training & fighting on June 7. Right now, I just hope he doesn’t hurt Freddie too bad,” a joking Martinez said.

Trainer Freddie Roach has been complaining recently about how Cotto has been hurting him during their training sessions together. Roach wears a heavy body pad during their body work sessions, and he’s been complaining about how he’s peeing blood after the workouts. The 54-year-old Roach still insists on doing the pad work himself instead of having a younger guy do the grunt work while he frees himself up to give instructions. It doesn’t quite make sense for an aging trainer to take a beating during Cotto’s workouts.

“There is no hatred at all. Words are over. Now, it’s just wait for the fight,” Martinez said.

There may not be any hatred between them, but Martinez sure doesn’t look like he likes Cotto very much. There seems to be some serious issues there between them, starting with how Martinez feels like he’s been disrespected as the WBC champion by Cotto getting a lot of the contract issues in his favor due to his popularity rather than for what he’s done lately in the ring. Cotto hasn’t held a world title since losing his WBC junior middleweight title to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2012.

“I’m just the same as I was when there was no knee problem,” Martinez said.

This is very important if what Martinez says is true about his knee having healed. If he’s 100 percent for this fight with his knee, he could give Cotto a major beating on June 7th. Martinez will also need to avoid injuries to his hands though, because he’s suffering hand fractures in his recent fights. Martinez can’t afford to have a major injury slowing him down against a fighter as good as Cotto. If there’s some kind of physical limitation holding Martinez back in this fight then he’ll likely lose.



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