By Miguel Rivera

WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (51-2-2, 28KOs) expects Miguel Cotto (38-4, 31KOs) to be a tougher opponent than Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Cotto is moving up to middleweight for the chance of becoming the first Puerto Rican fighter to win four world titles in four weight divisions. The fight takes place on June 7th at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Cotto is now trained by Freddie Roach, who trained Chavez Jr. for the fight with Martinez in 2012. Martinez was hurt and knocked down in the twelfth round, but easily dominated the other eleven.

"Cotto is coming at a good time for me. He comes from a good fight with Mayweather despite losing. I'm coming from a fight with Martin Murray that wasn't so good and a very good fight with Chavez Jr. I think we are at a fairly balanced point [of time]," Martinez said to Jose Sanchez.

"[Cotto and Chavez] are totally different. Cotto is much more complete than Chavez. But it seems like the good joke continues [with Roach saying he has the perfect plan to beat me]. In the last fight,  Cotto had an opponent [Delvin Rodriguez] who can't be compared. Rodriguez had beaten nobody. [Cotto] will surely do a good job with Roach, but he won't reach the distance."