Cotto-Martinez Lives! Progress Made By Arum, Lewkowicz

By Lem Satterfield

Adviser Sampson Lewkowicz and Top Rank Promotions CEO Bob Arum, have both confirmed that a mutual conversation in Arum's Las Vegas office on Wednesday went favorable regarding a potential fall, 2011 clash featuring Argentinian southpaw WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (46-2-2, 25 KOs) and WBA junior middleweight titlist Miguel Cotto (35-2, 28 KOs) of Puerto Rico.

Per their discussion, Arum said Cotto and Martinez would each take an interim-fight before meeting in an HBO pay per view event "in September or October." Cotto would face Antonio Margarito in a rematch. Martinez is likely going to return on March 12 on HBO.

"We're going to, in effect, cooperate with each other for the first half of the year. Martinez is going to fight on HBO in March, and Cotto will fight Margarito," said Arum. "Depending on the date of Cotto-Margarito, we may do an HBO fight involving Cotto prior to that. But the Cotto-Margarito winner would be in line to do another mega fight in the fall against Martinez for the middleweight title."

BoxingScene.com reported that DiBella and Arum had talked on Tuesday about a pay-per-view showdown in March for which Martinez would lay his crown on the line at a catch weight of 155-pounds, meaning that Cotto's belt would not likely be available for Martinez to win.

DiBella was reportedly unhappy with Arum's position of refusing to do a co-promotion, contending that Arum wanted to buy him out for $2.5 million against the upside of the pay-per-view revenue. Arum, said DiBella, turned down his own counter offer for a buyout.

Now, however, it appears that Arum has softened his position.

"We're not talking about the money, but it would be a co-promotion with everybody working together. But the financial format would be the same," Arum. "In other words, they would be guaranteed a significant amount of money, plus an upside on the pay per view. And Lou would be a co-promoter as far as the commission was concerned and as far as the details of the fight."

Lem Satterfield is the boxing editor at AOL FanHouse and the news editor at BoxingScene.com. To read more from Lem Satterfield, go to AOL FanHouse by Clicking Here .