Miguel Cotto vs. Sergio Martinez Pre Fight Analysis

martinez899By Gerardo Gomez: The time has arrived! Tonight at the Madison Square Garden, Miguel Cotto will try to make history by becoming the first Boricua to win titles in four different weight classes. Standing in his way is Middleweight Champion, Sergio Martinez. This fight has the potential of becoming a Fight of the Year candidate. Let’s look at the keys to victory for both fighters:

Miguel Cotto is entering his second fight under Freddie Roach. Many in the Boxing community feel that Cotto took this fight because he feels he can capitalized on Martinez knee problems. Is this fight a little bit to late or is it happening just in time? As a fan, I give Cotto a lot of credit for trying to make history by fighting one of the best middleweights in Sergio Martinez. This is clearly a much difficult path than other boxers have used to make history. A case in point is Manny Pacquiao. When he won his “8th Division title,” he fought at a catch weight of 150lb vs Margarito, a belt that was practically given to Manny.

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Roach: We’ll set traps for Sergio, we’ll catch him

roach234By Dan Ambrose: Trainer Freddie Roach feels that he’s got the perfect plan for Miguel Cotto (38-4, 31 KO’s) to come out victorious tonight against WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (51-2-2, 28 KO’s). And while most of the boxing world sees Sergio as being too big, too talented and too quick for the 5’7” Cotto, Roach says that he’s come up with a strategy for Cotto to be able to catch Martinez by luring him in.

Cotto is terrible at cutting off the ring, so as long as Martinez is moving, Cotto will struggle to land anything at all in the fight. But Roach has a way around that by having Cotto take advantage of Sergio’s aggression.

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Atlas picks Cotto to defeat Martinez tonight

cotto(Photo credit: Sumio Yamada) By Allan Fox: ESPN commentator Teddy Atlas believes that former three division world champion Miguel Cotto (38-4, 31 KO’s) will pull off an upset tonight by beating WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (51-2-2, 28 KO’s) to take his WBC title in their fight on HBO pay-per-view at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Atlas sees Sergio Martinez’s age, his two recent knee surgeries and inactivity being a problem for him in this fight. Martinez hasn’t fought since last year in April when he defeated Martin Murray in a very close fight. Martinez blamed the poor performance by him on him having suffered a knee and hand injury, but never the less, Martinez did not look good in that fight.

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Cotto-Martinez: Is it happening too late or has it come at the right time?

martinez7676(Photo credit: Sumio Yamada) By Timothy Medina: Tonight at Madison Square Garden, 4-time world champion Miguel Cotto (38-4, 31 KO’s) will be swapping leather with the middleweight kingpin Sergio Martinez (51-2-2, 28 KO’s). Both men are in the final stages of their hall of fame careers. When mentioning the careers of both Cotto and Martinez, the numerous rings wars they have been through come to mind. As every boxing fan knows, ring wars take a toll on a fighter.

It is clear that these two warriors are battle-worn and now that they are close to meeting each other inside the squared circle, one question still remains. Is this fight happening too late or has it come at the right time?

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Bradley: We don’t know how Sergio Martinez’s knee will hold up against Cotto

martinez33333(Photo credit: Sumio Yamada) By Allan Fox: Former two division world champion Tim Bradley isn’t quite sure if WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez’s knee is going to hold up under the pressure that Miguel Cotto (38-4, 31 KO’s) puts on him in their fight on Saturday. Martinez had surgery on his right knee during the past year, and he’s not fought since the surgery.

There are a lot of question marks about whether Martinez’s knee will hold up if he’s forced to fight in an all-out fashion. Bradley says the amount of effort that Martinez is working out at in training isn’t near where he’ll be forced to work at in the fight, and he thinks it’s possible he’ll blow out his knee again.

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Purses for Saturday: Cotto $7 million, Martinez $1.5 million

martinez4444(Photo credit: Sumio Yamada) By Dan Ambrose: Miguel Cotto (38-4, 31 KO’s) may be merely the challenger for his fight this Saturday night against WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (51-1-1, 28 KO’s), but he’ll be getting a lot more than Maravilla with his purse for their HBO pay-per-view fight at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Cotto will be getting a guaranteed $7 million for the fight, whereas Martinez will get $1.5 million plus more money from the percentage of PPV upside, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN.

“Cotto-Martinez purses: Cotto $3M (guaranteed $7M), Martinez $1.5M (but will get way more, on %). Vazquez Jr. 65k, Sonsona 30k, Melendez 85k, Maciel 10k, Lee 70k, Jackson 60k,” Rafael said on his twitter.

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Weights: Cotto 155, Martinez 158.75

martinez007By Dan Ambrose: WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (51-2-2, 28 KO’s) successfully weighed in on Friday in coming in at 158.75 lbs. for his title defense against challenger Miguel Cotto (38-4, 31 KO’s) on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York. Cotto weighed in at 155 lbs, which is kind of surprising because he’s likely to come in over 160lbs after he rehydrates.

You have to wonder if he messed up taking more weight off than he needed to when draining down to make weight for the fight. Whatever the case, Cotto is going to have his work cut out for him even if his weight is perfect.

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Martin Murray wants rematch against Sergio Martinez

murray64By Scott Gilfoid: #4 WBC Martin Murray (27-1-1, 12 KO’s) will be fighting for the vacant WBC Silver middleweight strap against fringe contender Max Bursak (29-2-1, 12 KO’s) on June 21st this month at the Casino de Monte Carlo Salle Medecin, Monte Carlo, Monaco.

If the 31-year-old Murray wins the Silver strap, he feels like he should get another crack at WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez or get a fight against Miguel Cotto if he comes out victorious in the Cotto-Martinez fight this Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York.

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Sergio Martinez says Cotto will pay for the knee brace incident

martinez566By Dan Ambrose: WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (51-2-2, 28 KO’s) says the New York State Athletic Commission are going to let him wear his knee brace for his fight on Saturday night against Miguel Cotto (38-4, 31 KO’s) after all. It was thought that Martinez wasn’t going to be able to wear the brace for the fight, but it looks like Martinez’s management smoothed it over with the Commission. Sergio says he has doctor’s orders to wear the knee brace to protect his surgically repaired right knee.

Martinez isn’t sure if it was someone from Cotto’s team that may have dropped a dime about his knee brace by contacting the Commission about it, but whatever the case he says he’s going to take it out on Cotto’s hide on Saturday night by giving him a beating in front of his own fans at Madison Square Garden in New York.

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Cotto: My power has come up with me to 160

martinez#1-By Dan Ambrose: Miguel Cotto (38-4, 31 KO’s) started his career at 140 back in 2001, and he’s now going to be moving up to 160 on Saturday night to face WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (51-2-2, 28 KO’s) for his 160 lb. title at Madison Square Garden in New York. Martinez has quite rightly pointed out that Cotto, 5’7”, will be little more than a welterweight in terms of power no matter how much weight he puts on for this fight.

Martinez feels that a fighter with a frame of a light welterweight remains a light welterweight even if they gain weight, and so he’s not too worried about Cotto’s power for this fight.

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