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Good article:
The audience typically doesn't know if what they’re reading or hearing is accurate or not.
In the medical journal Neurosurgery, there was a published in 2005 that addressed the biomechanics from a variety of punches in boxing…
In the days following a fight, a lot of words get thrown around. Fight fans are passionate about the sport of boxing, and love to debate who won, who lost, why, and everything in between.
The June 7th fight between Sergio Martinez and Miguel Cotto has been no exception; and in fact, due to the nature of Martinez’s loss and the publicity of the pay-per-view bout, it may have proven to be the rule. A lot of rumors and opinions have been thrown around, such as speculation that Sergio Martinez was indeed injured coming into the fight, despite his claims to the contrary before the bout took place; that he wasn’t in great condition; that he took this fight purely for the money; and that he didn’t put a lot of effort into training or in the fight itself. Even the commentators calling the fight on HBO repeatedly speculated that Martinez’s knee looked to be shot. Unfortunately, the audience typically doesn’t know if what they’re reading or hearing is accurate or not.
What really happened? Seemed to me the best way to find that out was to speak with members of Sergio Martinez’s team—those closest to him in the sport. Sergio and his team claimed he was injury-free prior to the fight against Martin Murray as well, but immediately following that fight, they admitted he had indeed been injured before the fight but obviously didn’t want to reveal that to their opponent before the bout took place. (Sergio himself was unavailable at the time of this interview, taking a well-deserved break.)
Was Martinez injury-free coming into the fight? It had been reported that Martinez had an MRI of his knee and hand before the fight and that both results were clear. Nathan Lewkowicz of Sampson Boxing, Martinez’s manager/advisor, told me, “The New York State Athletic Commission asked him to get an MRI just to make sure, and he got it and everything was fine.”
Lewkowicz continued, “And then when he was training, he was basically in top form. If you ask the people who came to the gym in Miami [where Sergio conducted the last half of his training camp], there were a couple of Miami Dolphins who train at the same gym [among them, fullback and tight end for the Miami Dolphins Charles Clay]. They said they’d never seen anybody train like that. It was probably the best training camp ever.”
Basic training is one thing, but actually getting in the ring with another human being can be another. When I asked Lewkowicz about sparring during camp, he said, “Yeah, he did [his usual amount]. He doesn’t do that much sparring to begin with. He spars for like two weeks, and only three times a week, so six sparring sessions are the average that he does.”
“I do believe he was healthy,” added Lou DiBella of DiBella Entertainment (Martinez’s promoter). “I went to visit him in camp. He was moving laterally, he was looking good. I didn’t see him spar, but I saw him working out, and he looked good.” DiBella and Lewkowicz confirmed that Martinez trained and sparred like normal, and didn’t come into the fight injured or weak. What happened, then, that led to Martinez being knocked down repeatedly and losing the fight the way he did?
In the locker room on fight night, things were the same as always for Team Martinez. “It was completely the same as it’s been in the past,” Lewkowicz stated. “He was getting wrapped up, getting warmed up, music playing in the background, Tom Hauser was there writing a story…yeah, everything was status quo. Pau Gasol (center for the Los Angeles Lakers) was there with us, hanging out with him. Everything was very relaxed and calm.”
Early in round 1, Martinez was hit with a powerful shot to the temple. It resulted in the first knockdown, and from then on, Sergio’s legs didn’t look solid. DiBella stated, “It was a shot to the temple, and then [Cotto’s] elbow contacted a second time with the back of Sergio’s head. The punch to the temple, the second that hit, [Sergio] said he felt like a hammer hit him. He said he couldn’t fire, he didn’t have any legs. That punch hurt him and caused him to have concussive symptoms, like one minute into the fight. And from that moment on, he said he didn’t have any legs. If you get hit flush to the temple, you lose your legs.”
Lewkowicz agreed. “After that first knockdown, he kept getting knocked down, and it didn’t seem like he had any balance at all. So that’s where I thought, after that first shot, something must have happened to his equilibrium. Because he did not look the way he did in the locker room when he was hitting the pads. He was moving around, he looked good, and then, that shot…watching it from ringside, if you watch the replay, you can tell he got hurt. He told us after that he felt dizzy, after that shot, for the whole fight.”
Lewkowicz continued, “He was very confident going into the fight. He was certain he was going to win. I personally believe if he didn’t get caught with that shot, he would’ve outboxed [Cotto].”
In the medical journal Neurosurgery, there was a study published in 2005 that addressed the biomechanics from a variety of punches in boxing. It was found that the hook produced the highest change in hand velocity and the greatest punch force (compared to uppercuts and straight punches to the head and jaw). The shot Martinez was hit with early in round 1 was a hook, and it landed directly on his temple, which is a well-known (and targeted) spot for taking away your opponent’s equilibrium, and hence for knockouts, in the sport of boxing.
But, it’s worth noting, Martinez fought for eight more rounds after being hit with that temple blow.
As far as injuries sustained during the course of the bout, Martinez suffered a concussion as a result of that temple shot in round 1. “He had a cut on the back of his head that was caused by an elbow,” DiBella said. “He had a broken nose.”
And the knee? “I just think everyone is so focused on his legs or whatever,” said DiBella. “He got hit with a shot on the temple, that’s the worst place to be hit, by a guy that punches very hard and probably has the best left hook in boxing. Miguel Cotto looked like a beast—he was monstrously strong. And he landed a tremendous shot early in the fight, and that was it, it pretty much ended the fight. He didn’t appear to me to be able to put any weight on the knee [after that temple shot in round 1]. But I think it was a combination of things. You know, a knee that was never gonna be what it was three years ago, combined with a shot to the temple that left him dizzy and [took out] his equilibrium. He wasn’t himself after that punch.”
As fight fans, we can really only imagine what it’s like to be a member of a fighter’s team, to experience their highs and lows alongside them and not just as a fan or casual observer.
Watching from ringside that night “was probably the worst 25 minutes of my life,” Lewkowicz told me. “You feel like you don’t have control of the situation, and you’re kind of wondering to yourself why, what is happening, what is going on? The preparation was perfect, training camp was excellent. You’re just kind of hoping that he pulls through like he has in the past, and that he pulls a rabbit out of a hat. But that didn’t happen.”
“On one hand, it was incredibly painful for me to watch that fight,” DiBella said openly. “It was almost sickening to me because I care a lot about him, I’m a huge fan as well as his promoter, so it was painful to watch him lose that way. But, you know, guys get caught by big punches and that’s that. On the other hand, I’m proud of him. I’m always proud of him, but I’m proud of him—the guts and the heart he showed by continuing to try to win that fight, and never quitting, and just going on. There was no quit in that guy, period. He could’ve checked out at any point, he could’ve not gotten up in the first round. He was nailed flush, he was badly hurt. And he went down a couple times but he kept getting up, you know, and he really fought those eight rounds after that first round, he fought them with heart and guts. And it was brave. It was a brave performance even though it was so one-sided and conclusive. All respect to Miguel Cotto. He deserves to be middleweight champion, he won conclusively, and no one’s making any excuses or taking anything away from him. But, you know, Sergio’s always been a great sportsman and a great representative of the sport, and I think he was even in defeat that night. I think he showed tremendous heart and an unwillingness to quit, and he gave everything he had to the fans. He did it his whole career, and he did it that night.”
As stated at the beginning of this piece, a lot of words get thrown around following a fight. What is Team Martinez’s reaction to some of those words?
“On Twitter, on message boards, and boxing websites, you get people…Monday morning quarterbacks, but in reality, they weren’t there. It definitely wasn’t a cash out fight,” said Lewkowicz. “Sergio was very certain he was gonna win.”
In the medical journal Neurosurgery, there was a published in 2005 that addressed the biomechanics from a variety of punches in boxing…
In the days following a fight, a lot of words get thrown around. Fight fans are passionate about the sport of boxing, and love to debate who won, who lost, why, and everything in between.
The June 7th fight between Sergio Martinez and Miguel Cotto has been no exception; and in fact, due to the nature of Martinez’s loss and the publicity of the pay-per-view bout, it may have proven to be the rule. A lot of rumors and opinions have been thrown around, such as speculation that Sergio Martinez was indeed injured coming into the fight, despite his claims to the contrary before the bout took place; that he wasn’t in great condition; that he took this fight purely for the money; and that he didn’t put a lot of effort into training or in the fight itself. Even the commentators calling the fight on HBO repeatedly speculated that Martinez’s knee looked to be shot. Unfortunately, the audience typically doesn’t know if what they’re reading or hearing is accurate or not.
What really happened? Seemed to me the best way to find that out was to speak with members of Sergio Martinez’s team—those closest to him in the sport. Sergio and his team claimed he was injury-free prior to the fight against Martin Murray as well, but immediately following that fight, they admitted he had indeed been injured before the fight but obviously didn’t want to reveal that to their opponent before the bout took place. (Sergio himself was unavailable at the time of this interview, taking a well-deserved break.)
Was Martinez injury-free coming into the fight? It had been reported that Martinez had an MRI of his knee and hand before the fight and that both results were clear. Nathan Lewkowicz of Sampson Boxing, Martinez’s manager/advisor, told me, “The New York State Athletic Commission asked him to get an MRI just to make sure, and he got it and everything was fine.”
Lewkowicz continued, “And then when he was training, he was basically in top form. If you ask the people who came to the gym in Miami [where Sergio conducted the last half of his training camp], there were a couple of Miami Dolphins who train at the same gym [among them, fullback and tight end for the Miami Dolphins Charles Clay]. They said they’d never seen anybody train like that. It was probably the best training camp ever.”
Basic training is one thing, but actually getting in the ring with another human being can be another. When I asked Lewkowicz about sparring during camp, he said, “Yeah, he did [his usual amount]. He doesn’t do that much sparring to begin with. He spars for like two weeks, and only three times a week, so six sparring sessions are the average that he does.”
“I do believe he was healthy,” added Lou DiBella of DiBella Entertainment (Martinez’s promoter). “I went to visit him in camp. He was moving laterally, he was looking good. I didn’t see him spar, but I saw him working out, and he looked good.” DiBella and Lewkowicz confirmed that Martinez trained and sparred like normal, and didn’t come into the fight injured or weak. What happened, then, that led to Martinez being knocked down repeatedly and losing the fight the way he did?
In the locker room on fight night, things were the same as always for Team Martinez. “It was completely the same as it’s been in the past,” Lewkowicz stated. “He was getting wrapped up, getting warmed up, music playing in the background, Tom Hauser was there writing a story…yeah, everything was status quo. Pau Gasol (center for the Los Angeles Lakers) was there with us, hanging out with him. Everything was very relaxed and calm.”
Early in round 1, Martinez was hit with a powerful shot to the temple. It resulted in the first knockdown, and from then on, Sergio’s legs didn’t look solid. DiBella stated, “It was a shot to the temple, and then [Cotto’s] elbow contacted a second time with the back of Sergio’s head. The punch to the temple, the second that hit, [Sergio] said he felt like a hammer hit him. He said he couldn’t fire, he didn’t have any legs. That punch hurt him and caused him to have concussive symptoms, like one minute into the fight. And from that moment on, he said he didn’t have any legs. If you get hit flush to the temple, you lose your legs.”
Lewkowicz agreed. “After that first knockdown, he kept getting knocked down, and it didn’t seem like he had any balance at all. So that’s where I thought, after that first shot, something must have happened to his equilibrium. Because he did not look the way he did in the locker room when he was hitting the pads. He was moving around, he looked good, and then, that shot…watching it from ringside, if you watch the replay, you can tell he got hurt. He told us after that he felt dizzy, after that shot, for the whole fight.”
Lewkowicz continued, “He was very confident going into the fight. He was certain he was going to win. I personally believe if he didn’t get caught with that shot, he would’ve outboxed [Cotto].”
In the medical journal Neurosurgery, there was a study published in 2005 that addressed the biomechanics from a variety of punches in boxing. It was found that the hook produced the highest change in hand velocity and the greatest punch force (compared to uppercuts and straight punches to the head and jaw). The shot Martinez was hit with early in round 1 was a hook, and it landed directly on his temple, which is a well-known (and targeted) spot for taking away your opponent’s equilibrium, and hence for knockouts, in the sport of boxing.
But, it’s worth noting, Martinez fought for eight more rounds after being hit with that temple blow.
As far as injuries sustained during the course of the bout, Martinez suffered a concussion as a result of that temple shot in round 1. “He had a cut on the back of his head that was caused by an elbow,” DiBella said. “He had a broken nose.”
And the knee? “I just think everyone is so focused on his legs or whatever,” said DiBella. “He got hit with a shot on the temple, that’s the worst place to be hit, by a guy that punches very hard and probably has the best left hook in boxing. Miguel Cotto looked like a beast—he was monstrously strong. And he landed a tremendous shot early in the fight, and that was it, it pretty much ended the fight. He didn’t appear to me to be able to put any weight on the knee [after that temple shot in round 1]. But I think it was a combination of things. You know, a knee that was never gonna be what it was three years ago, combined with a shot to the temple that left him dizzy and [took out] his equilibrium. He wasn’t himself after that punch.”
As fight fans, we can really only imagine what it’s like to be a member of a fighter’s team, to experience their highs and lows alongside them and not just as a fan or casual observer.
Watching from ringside that night “was probably the worst 25 minutes of my life,” Lewkowicz told me. “You feel like you don’t have control of the situation, and you’re kind of wondering to yourself why, what is happening, what is going on? The preparation was perfect, training camp was excellent. You’re just kind of hoping that he pulls through like he has in the past, and that he pulls a rabbit out of a hat. But that didn’t happen.”
“On one hand, it was incredibly painful for me to watch that fight,” DiBella said openly. “It was almost sickening to me because I care a lot about him, I’m a huge fan as well as his promoter, so it was painful to watch him lose that way. But, you know, guys get caught by big punches and that’s that. On the other hand, I’m proud of him. I’m always proud of him, but I’m proud of him—the guts and the heart he showed by continuing to try to win that fight, and never quitting, and just going on. There was no quit in that guy, period. He could’ve checked out at any point, he could’ve not gotten up in the first round. He was nailed flush, he was badly hurt. And he went down a couple times but he kept getting up, you know, and he really fought those eight rounds after that first round, he fought them with heart and guts. And it was brave. It was a brave performance even though it was so one-sided and conclusive. All respect to Miguel Cotto. He deserves to be middleweight champion, he won conclusively, and no one’s making any excuses or taking anything away from him. But, you know, Sergio’s always been a great sportsman and a great representative of the sport, and I think he was even in defeat that night. I think he showed tremendous heart and an unwillingness to quit, and he gave everything he had to the fans. He did it his whole career, and he did it that night.”
As stated at the beginning of this piece, a lot of words get thrown around following a fight. What is Team Martinez’s reaction to some of those words?
“On Twitter, on message boards, and boxing websites, you get people…Monday morning quarterbacks, but in reality, they weren’t there. It definitely wasn’t a cash out fight,” said Lewkowicz. “Sergio was very certain he was gonna win.”
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