Cotto-Martinez, John-Gamboa a possibility for 2011 – News

By Boxing News - 12/08/2010 - Comments

Image: Cotto-Martinez, John-Gamboa a possibility for 2011 - NewsBy Chris Williams: The negotiations for a fight between World Boxing Council (WBC) middleweight champion Sergio Martinez and WBA junior middleweight Miguel Cotto are still alive, according to examiner.com. However, if the fight does get made, it won’t be until fall next year after Cotto has already fought someone like Antonio Margarito. By that time, it might not be as nearly as an interesting fight as it is now. The reason is simple. If Cotto takes another pounding from Margarito, which is very possible given how Margarito took Cotto apart last time they fought in 2008, Cotto’s stock will drop off in a huge way.

There might not be much of Cotto left by the time Martinez gets a chance to fight him. Cotto looks badly deteriorated from before his loss to Margarito, and really hasn’t shined in ages losing to Manny Pacquiao and not looking all that great against Joshua Clottey and Yuri Foreman.

Another fight that could get made next year is a bout between Yuriorkis Gamboa and Chris John. That fight is much less interesting than Cotto-Martinez, because John has looked horrible in his two recent fights against fringe featherweight contender Rocky Juarez, fighting to a draw with him last year in February and then barely beating Juarez in their rematch in September 2009. As things are, I see John as little more than a paper champion and not someone I would care to see fight anyone much less Gamboa.

Although John has an unbeaten record, I consider him as already having lost because he got a gift 12 round decision over Juan Manuel Marquez in 2006 while fighting in his home country of Indonesia. I saw the fight and scored it 9 rounds to 3 for Marquez, giving John a couple of mercy rounds. I actually think John only one won round in that fight, and he really looked horrible. I don’t particularly care to see John fight anyone, but it will be interesting to see Gamboa tear him apart and send him back to the contender status. Bob Arum needs to forget about this fight and match Gamboa up against someone that can actually fight and has talent like Juan Manuel Lopez. Forget John, we don’t need to see him fight. If Arum wants him to fight someone, like John fight Juarez for a third time and prove that he’s actually better than that fringe contender.



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