All the hype surrounding what could be one of the best fights of 2014 has gotten a bit more interesting over the past few weeks as each fighters’ camp has taken verbal jabs at one another through the media and HBO’s reality show 24/7: Cotto vs. Martinez.
Although some of what is said may seem personal, lineal middleweight champion of the world Sergio Martinez explained that it wasn’t. The 39-year-old freak of nature said that is all professional between him and Cotto and once in the ring it will be all about the fight at hand.
Martinez is sticking with his camp’s original prediction of a Round 9 knockout win and that could be his best shot at nixing Cotto’s pursuit for a title in a fourth weight division.
If the fight goes the full 12 rounds that would favor Cotto, any kind of early stoppage favors Martinez despite Freddie Roach saying Cotto would win by fourth round KO.
Cotto did beat Delvin Rodriguez via Round 3 TKO in his last timeout back in October 2013 and but let’s face it, Rodriguez is nowhere near the caliber of fighter that Martinez is. Cotto’s last true stoppage was against Antonio Margarito in 2011 and that was due to Margarito’s eye being completely swollen shut.
In Cotto’s last two bouts against quality opponents in Austin Trout and Floyd Mayweather Jr. he was outclassed and lost both via unanimous decision, even though he left Mayweather’s face beaten and bruised, something that is not the norm for the pound-for-pound king.
Martinez has appeared to be declining in his last bout against Martin Murray, but his lackluster showing could be attributed to one of three injuries he suffered before or during the fight.
Cotto looked great against Rodriguez and everyone is giving that credit to him teaming up with hall of fame trainer Freddie Roach.
IF the fight follows a more of a technical boxing match, then Cotto will be the favorite come Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York. If the bout is more of a slugfest with big shots being traded Martinez will be the favorite.
In all the bout should live up to the massive hype built up around it and it will be deserving of being displayed at the “Most Famous Arena in the World” in MSG.
