The long rumored Sergio Martinez-Miguel Cotto showdown has finally been announced and will take place at Madison Square Garden in New York on June 7.
The two fighters took to Twitter to announce the bout, something that is becoming more usual as social media grows.
Here’s Cotto’s tweet:
— Miguel A. Cotto (@RealMiguelCotto) February 20, 2014
Cotto will be moving up in weight to meet the 159-pound contract weight (one pound shy of the usual middleweight limit of 160 pounds), in what will be his quest to win a title in his fourth weight division, making him the first Puerto Rican fighter to accomplish such a feat.
The bout will mark Martinez’s seventh title defense, as he beat names such as Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., Paul Williams and Matthew Macklin to name a few in that span.
Martinez (51-2-2, 28 KOs) has been plagued with injuries of the past several years which have required him to undergo two knee surgeries and allowed him to fight just once in 2013, a controversial win over Martin Murray in his home country of Argentina.
In addition to the injuries Martinez’s last few fights have been less than stellar, leading to speculation that the 38-year-old’s career is on the decline.
Cotto, 33, has been facing the very same questions of decline over the past few years, but his performance against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2012 helped spark new interest in Cotto (38-4, 31 KOs) despite losing the bout.
Cotto then went out and was easily defeated by Austin Trout in December 2012, killing some of the momentum the Mayweather bout created.
Helping to re-stoke the flames, Cotto went out and disposed of Delvin Rodriguez in the third round of their bout in October, giving him his forst KO win in almost two years.
With the fight taking place in New York at MSG one should expect Cotto to have the crowd in his favor as he has had success in the past at the venue. Martinez will be out to show he has more left in the ring than most think while Cotto has his title aspirations on the line, providing the makings for an electric night come June 7.
