what was sergio martinez gameplan?

[Skip Bayless]

can anyone tell me what his gameplan was because it looked like he had 0 strategy in there. i dont think cotto is and never will get the credit he deserves for making sergio look as bad as he did. yes u can say sergio knee may have been bad but come on he couldnt land a clean punch all night.

cotto was outboxing him in the center of the ring and because sergio defence is his legs he was forced to move around to avoid cotto left hook but because he was moving around so much he couldnt generate the power needed on his punches. also i noticed that cotto, whether intentional or unintentional, would step on sergios foot and hit him, 2 of the 3 knockdowns happened this way.

i knew cotto was the more skilled fighter but the gulf in skill surprised me, i didnt think he was that much better skilled. sergio couldnt deal with cottos foot work, counter punches, speed, jabs or power. masterful performance from cotto, best win of his career by a damn mile

also cottos footwork, not just in attacking sense but defensive wise was superb, he always had sergio reaching with his punches all night. sergio needed to throw combinations when cotto would cover himself and force cotto on the back foot but instead he fought his typical fight and just pot shotting with straight lefts or right hooks.

ps. i dont think the knee was as bad as people are making it out to be, sergio moved quite a lot in this fight, he has never had great footwork he just has good footspeed. cotto is just the better boxer and looked stronger and more powerful than sergio which surprised me

[bojangles1987]

Move and try and snatch a decision. There wasn't much else he could do.

[ИATAS]

Obviously everything went out of the window after that disastrous first round.

Also I just don't think his body allowed him to do what he wanted to do. That certainly wasn't the same Sergio who beat Pavlik, Williams and the likes. Old man is old. Cotto f'd him up that first round and I don't think Sergio ever recovered.

[Sugar Adam Ali]

gameplan, was to move, potshot, and let cotto walk into a huge shot...

The problem was that cotto bombed on him early with the left hook to the temple and serg had a tough time recovering, much like froch vs groves 1, canelo-angulo, etc... Serg got caught early, and it seemed like around the 5th or 6th rd he was getting back into the fight, but serg has never been a defensive wizard and he had no answer for the left hook.. Cotto landed it at will to the head and body, and serg just couldnt avoid it..

[chargerhemi06]

He had none...he was just gonna dance around in circles with his hands to his waist. Roach was right about Sergio not being a skilled boxer. Anybody who fights with their hands down only rely on their athleticism for defence. Once the legs go...I mean knees haha...you end up being an espn fnf fighter at best which is where Sergio is at now.

[Skip Bayless]

Move and try and snatch a decision. There wasn't much else he could do.

if this was his gameplan then his trainer needs to be fired. cotto is the superior boxer and sergio has been out of the ring for over a year + coming of knee operations. why the hell did their gameplan involve moving around so much, he should have engaged more in a firefight like he did against williams the 2nd time around and test cotto chin.

[Ham Porter]

The gameplan was to show up, collect a paycheck and then ride off into the sunset.

[-PBP-]

Early on he was circling left to try and avoid Cottos left hand. He tried to use his range finding jab to set up his straight left. Cotto countered that jab with a left hook and shook him up. From there on he couldn't get his legs back underneath him.

[Skip Bayless]

Early on he was circling left to try and avoid Cottos left hand. He tried to use his range finding jab to set up his straight left. Cotto countered that jab with a left hook and shook him up. From there on he couldn't get his legs back underneath him.

i think the power surprised him, maybe he was over confident going into the fight like froch was against groves the first time around and thought he couldnt be hurt by him. i thought he recovered very well though but cotto was just the better boxer with the better gameplan

[-PBP-]

i think the power surprised him, maybe he was over confident going into the fight like froch was against groves the first time around and thought he couldnt be hurt by him. i thought he recovered very well though but cotto was just the better boxer with the better gameplan

Agreed. Cotto is just the more polished, experienced fighter. Footwork was superb, he cut the ring off well and surprisingly was solid in defense. He was catching a lot of Segs shots with his gloves.

Martinez' main advantage was his superior athletic abilities but at this stage in your career that's not enough win at this level