The Official Miguel Cotto-Sergio Martinez Master Thread

[Jloro]

Happy Birthday to the Champ!

[Da Boxer]

War King Cotto! Guerra!

[cali925]

When do tickets go on sale?

[Coyotefury]

Why is everyone acting like Sergio is a full-fledged middleweight? He's barely a MW. He comes in at 159 for all his fights. That said he is a tremendous talent with an exciting style. If this fight happens in a vacuum I pick Sergio to win easily. But it's not; he's pushing 40, he's been inactive for over a year, he's coming off of knee surgery and hand issues. This isn't lock stock and barrel. This isn't JCC Jr who connects at a 20% clip. Sergio's going to get hit a lot, and judging from Cotto's last fight he's going to get tagged in his solar plexus, kidneys, and liver. Sergio shouldn't trade, he needs to fight like Trout and move-move-move. We'll find out within 3 rounds if the Delvin fight was style or substance. If Cotto is truly back to his body punching form or if Delvin was just that weak.

We'll see. It's 50:50 as far as I'm concerned.

But you forget that Martinez fighting style helps him avoid all those body shots as well. I mean the guy bends from the waist forward, and is always at a distance, making it very hard for cotto to get to him. If Cotto tries to go to the body or lunges forward, Sergio is going to have a field day pot shotting cottos face. Now, if that is cottos game plan, I wonder what he will do when he realizes it won't work. Because that was his game plan against margarito and it failed him because he said he tried plans A,B, and C and he couldn't get to the body because of margaritos elbows.

Man I am excited for this fight, WAR Martinez!!!!

[BafanaBafana]

Martinez has started training, this the first footage I could find.

From what I see in this footage, his leg doesn't look good and he's still waring a brace. What do you guys think?

[ELPacman]

Honestly, after seeing how Cotto did against a speedy left hand that throws a lot of punches in Pacquiao, it's hard to imagine he will fair any better here...especially considering Martinez is the bigger guy. On the other hand, he's got Roach who if anyone knows southpaws and could reverse engineer them, it would be him to help out Cotto. I love to see this fight but I hate it because Cotto is one of my all time favorite fighters and Martinez is one my top favorites as well. Bah!

[ColdBlooded]

From what I see in this footage, his leg doesn't look good and he's still waring a brace. What do you guys think?

Hard to tell. I think padwork in a ring would be far more revealing. The brace probably doesn't mean much, because he was wearing one in training for Chavez as well. While Martinez isn't moving much, it's hard to tell if that is because his knee is bothering him or because he's in such a tight space. But there are a few instances where he shifts his weight onto his right leg and throws right hooks. If he's putting that much weight on the injured leg, maybe his leg is better than it was for Murray.

[El Angel]

From what I see in this footage, his leg doesn't look good and he's still waring a brace. What do you guys think?

He's moving awkwardly at times, but it's hard to tell if it's knee that is the cause of it.

[El Angel]

Sergio Martinez vows to beat Miguel Cotto into retirement

RING middleweight champion Sergio Martinez was fighting mad on Friday, his 39th birthday, vowing to severely punish Miguel Cotto, whom he says "won't see the ninth round" when they meet on June 7 at Madison Square Garden.

A southpaw from Argentina now living in Spain, Martinez told ******.com that he is miffed about the negotiations for the bout, which resulted in the fight being billed "Cotto-Martinez," along with a contracted catchweight of 159 pounds.

"I feel great. I honestly do not feel like I'm 39 as I am still light on my feet. Age is just a number," said Martinez through translator/advisor Nathan Lewkowicz.

"I just want to get into the ring with Cotto so I can give him a beating," Martinez added. "All of the demands and hoops that they made my team go through to make this fight happen have shown me how he is arrogant and doesn't respect me and my accomplishments."

Martinez (51-2-2, 28 knockouts), who last fought in April 2013 when he defeated Martin Murray, has vowed to slice up Cotto, who is prone to cuts. Kelly Pavlik, Paul Williams, Matthew Macklin, and Julio Cesar Chavez were all left with badly bleeding faces after losses to Martinez.

In additon, Darren Barker suffered a perforated eardrum during an 11th-round stoppage loss to Martinez, and Sergei Dzinziruk was dropped five times during an eighth-round knockout loss.

"I can't see this fight playing out any other way. I know that Cotto won't see the ninth round," said Martinez, who is advised by Sampson Lewkowicz as well as his son, Nathan Lewkowicz, and promoted by Lou DiBella.

"When Sampson and Nathan would call Miguel De Pablos, my business manager, who was with me in Spain and explain the demands and what they were, I thought they were completely absurd. "

Having fought at junior middleweight since 2010, Cotto (38-4, 31 KOs) will move up to middleweight for the first time in an attempt to become the first Puerto Rican fighter to win a fourth title in as many different weight classes against Martinez in an HBO Pay Per View event.

Cotto, 33, is rising to the challenge at a time when the island nation currently has no reigning beltholders who were born there, and doing so the night before the Puerto Rican Day parade. Cotto is 9-1 with five knockouts in New York, and 7-1 with four stoppage at The Garden.

Martinez, meanwhile, has risen from the canvas during each of his past three fights comprised of an 11th-round stoppage of Macklin and unanimous decision victories over Murray and Chavez.

Martinez is 7-0, with four knockouts since falling by majority decision to Williams in December 2009, having avenged that loss by stopping Williams in the second round in November 2010.

The win over Williams was in defense of the WBC belt Martinez won by unanimous decision from Pavlik in April 2010. Martinez has also knocked out former titleholders Dzinziruk and Barker in the eighth- and 11th-rounds.

After the Chavez fight, Martinez received eight stitches to repair a cut over his left eye, two staples in his head, and suffered from both a broken left hand and torn ligaments in his right knee, the latter of which required surgery to repair.

Martinez required a second surgery after having damaged the knee injury, later determined to be a torn right meniscus, after his triumph over Murray.

"I have a warrior's heart, and never give up when I am put in difficult situations. I fight hard for my fans," said Martinez. "Even though I had an injury before my fight in Argentina with Murray, I would not let the organizers postpone the fight, because I didn't want to let down my fans."

Does Cotto believe Martinez to be vulnerable?

"I do believe that Cotto thinks that, as does his team," said Martinez. "Or else why would they take the fight now, and not three years ago, when I was asking for it. I do believe that Cotto will retire after I beat him."

http://rin gtv.craveonline.com/news/320321-sergio-martinez-3

[El Angel]

Miguel Cotto vows ‘history will be made’ versus Sergio Martinez

Miguel Cotto vows that "history will be made" against RING middleweight champion Sergio Martinez on June 7 at New York's Madison Square Garden, which Cotto calls his "second home."

That's where Cotto will move up to the 160-pound division for the first time in an attempt to become the first Puerto Rican fighter to win a fourth title in as many different weight classes against Martinez in an HBO Pay Per View event.

"It will be a huge honor to accomplish the goal of becoming the first Puerto Rican to become a world champion in a fourth division," said Cotto, who has fought at junior middleweight since 2010.

Cotto (38-4, 31 knockouts) will face Martinez at a catchweight of 159 pounds, rising to the challenge at a time when the island nation currently has no reigning beltholders who were born there, and doing so the night before the Puerto Rican Day parade.

"I feel very happy with this opportunity to fight again in my second home in New York," said Cotto, 33, who is 9-1 with five knockouts in New York, and 7-1 with four stoppage at The Garden. "It will be in front of all of the Puerto Ricans that have supported me throughout all of my career."

A veteran southpaw who turns 39 on Friday, Martinez (51-2-2, 28 KOs) will have been out of the ring since April of last year, when he unanimously decisioned Martin Murray in Buenos Aires.

Martinez has risen from the canvas during each of his past three fights comprised of an 11th-round stoppage of Matthew Macklin and unanimous decision victories over Murray and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.

Martinez is 7-0, with four knockouts since falling by majority decision to Paul Williams in December 2009, having avenged that loss by stopping Williams in the second round in November 2010.

The win over Williams was in defense of the WBC belt Martinez won by unanimous decision from Kelly Pavlik in April 2010. Martinez has also knocked out former titleholders Sergei Dzinziruk and Darren Barker in the eighth- and 11th-rounds.

After the Chavez fight, Martinez received eight stitches to repair a cut over his left eye, two staples in his head, and suffered from both a broken left hand and torn ligaments in his right knee, the latter of which required surgery to repaair.

Martinez required a second surgery after having damaged the knee injury, later determined to be a torn right meniscus, after his triumph over Murray.

Cotto, meanwhile, is coming off a third-round knockout of Delvin Rodriguez in October that helped him to bounce back from consecutive unanimous-decision losses to Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Austin Trout in May and December 2012, respectively.

At The Garden, Cotto has decisioned former world titleholders Shane Mosley, Joshua Clottey and Paulie Malignaggi, knocked out Zab Judah and Antonio Margarito, and lost to Trout, the latter in his last appearance in there.

The loss to Mayweather ended a three-fight knockout and winning streak by Cotto, whose previous setback had come via 12th-round stoppage opposite Manny Pacquiao in November of 2009.

The triumph over Margarito had avenged the first loss of Cotto’s career, which was an 11th-round knockout in July of 2008.

"Throughout all of my career, I have always said that I will fight the best names in the business," said Cotto, whose loss to Trout represented his eighth appearance at The Garden, and his 10th in New York. "Sergio Martinez is the best challenge, and on June 7, at Madison Square Garden, history will be made."



MIGUEL COTTO’S FIGHTS IN NEW YORK:

Waklimi Young, UD 4, Hammerstein Ballroom, April 28, 2001

Muhammad Abdulaev, TKO 9, Madison Square Garden, June 11, 2005

Paulie Malignaggi, UD 12, Madison Square Garden, June 10, 2006

Zab Judah, TKO 11, Madison Square Garden, June 9, 2007

Shane Mosley, UD 12, Madison Square Garden, Nov. 10, 2007

Michael Jennings, TKO 5, Madison Square Garden, February 21, 2009

Joshua Clottey, SD 12, Madison Square Garden, June 13, 2009

Yuri Foreman, TKO 9, Yankee Stadium, June 5, 2010

Antonio Margarito, TKO 10, Madison Square Garden, Dec. 3, 2011

Austin Trout UD 12 Miguel Cotto, Madison Square Garden, Dec. 12, 2012

http://rin gtv.craveonline.com/news/320155-miguel-cotto-vows-history-will-be-made-versus-sergio-martinez