Sergio Martinez: Cotto’s going to be sorry he took this fight

By Boxing News - 06/01/2014 - Comments

martinez6By Dan Ambrose: With their big HBO pay-per-view match-up now less than a week away, WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (51-2-2, 28 KO’s) says he’s in top shape and ready to knock Miguel Cotto (38-4, 31 KO’s) out in their fight next Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York. The 39-year-old Martinez says Cotto will regret having taken the fight with him after he gets done with him.

Martinez’s surgically repaired knee is ready to go, and he’s not going into this fight having re-injured his knee like he did in his previous fight against Martin Murray last April. Sergio’s knee was 70% for that fight, and he also had an injured left shoulder and a fractured left hand that he hurt in the fight.

“I’m going to win the fight. I know I’m going to win by knockout,” Martinez said to HBO. “I’m absolutely convinced I’m going to do it. You made a mistake in taking this fight, Cotto. It would be impossible for me to be at a higher level. No human being can be more powerful than I am. That’s what Cotto’s going up against. He’s facing me at my best in the ring. I’m sure Cotto only took the fight after seeing my fight against Martin Murray.”

If Martinez is the same fighter that beat Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in 2012, then it could be a really rough night for Cotto, because he doesn’t match up at all with Martinez before his fight with Murray. Cotto would likely beat the Martinez that labored to a close 12 round decision against Murray, but definitely not against the Martinez that took care of Chavez Jr. two years ago. Martinez was way too good at that time for Cotto to handle.

Cotto has got to hope that Martinez isn’t the same fighter that he was before because it could be bad for him if he’s not. Cotto’s trainer Freddie Roach believes he’s recreated Cotto to bring him back to vintage form due to his expertise in tinkering with his fighting style, but even in his prime years, Cotto would likely be out of his class against Sergio. We’re talking about a bigger fighter in Sergio with more of the Floyd Mayweather Jr/Roy Jones Jr. style of fighting. Cotto doesn’t do well against those types of fighters.

I don’t know that Roach has changed Cotto at all. He’s talking about having changed him but he seems like the same fighter he always was in looking at his recent fight against Delvin Rodriguez.

One thing that Cotto does have going for him in this fight is the long period of time that Martinez was out of the ring. He was on crutches for 7 months due to his injured knee, and he’s missed a great deal of time. Martinez also seems to gotten a little flabby around the midsection in putting on weight that wasn’t there previously. It’s doubtful that Martinez will have dropped that weight by the time he steps inside the ring on Saturday night, so it’s possible that Cotto could beat Martinez on just superior conditioning. Cotto looks in top shape right now, and he’s going to be hard to beat with him in such peak condition.



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