By Dave Lahr: Trainer Freddie Roach thinks his unbeaten fighter Vanes Martirosyan (28-0, 17 KO’s) can beat World Boxing Association (WBA) junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (35-2, 28 KO’s), saying in an article at Philstar.com, “Vanes is being lined up to fight Miguel Cotto. I would never take a fight which I think my fighter couldn’t win. So, yes, I think Cotto.” Ignoring the part where Roach appears to be admitting that he cherry picks opponents for his fighters, it’s hard to picture a hit and run type fighter like Martirosyan beating a guy like Cotto. I see Cotto as a flawed fighter and not what he once was after taking a royal pounding from Antonio Margarito in 2008, but Cotto does really well against fighter that run around the ring all night long looking to just punch and run like Martirosyan.

I think Roach is a big biased towards his fighter, because I can’t see anything from Martirosyan in his previous fights that would lead me to believe he would even be competitive win Cotto. I’m not even talking about him beating Cotto, because I think it would cold day in hell before that happens. I’m talking about Martirosyan just being competitive with Cotto. I don’t see that. To me, Martirosyan is like a junior middleweight version of Michael Jennings, a guy that does well if you match him carefully but who flounders if he’s put in with someone that punches bag.

This is what happened when Martirosyan was matched up against Kassim Ouma earlier this year in January. Martirosyan got the 10 round decision, but few boxing fans agreed with the outcome of the fight. I had Ouma winning by two rounds, and he came into the Martirosyan fight having lost four out of his last five bouts. I’m sorry but I can’t agree with Roach about his belief that Martirosyan could beat Cotto. I think Martirosyan is a good bottom 15 fighter in the junior middleweight division. I see him as dead bottom 15 amongst the entire junior middleweight division.

He should be able to get a fight with Cotto no problem, because he does fight for the same promotional company Top Rank. Since they like to keep a lot of their fights in house, Martirosyan could end up fighting both Cotto and Manny Pacquiao before they retire simply because there’s not a lot of other options for them within their same stable. Pacquiao is going to be fighting Cotto for a second time next year, and unless he fights Joshua Clottey or Antonio Margarito for a second time, Martirosyan could end up getting a shot at some point unless Pacquiao retires.