The Search for Boxing Greatness and Immortality M. De Tyrone

On June 6^th, 2014 at Madison Square Garden, NYC it doesn’t get any better two modern day Latino gladiators will meet in the ring in a pro-Cotto environment.  One proud Argentine Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez 51-2-2 (28KO) defends his WBC Middleweight Title vs. Puerto Rico’s Miguel Cotto 38-4 (31KO) one is trying to achieve greatness and the other is fighting father time, the countless boxing injuries, and is trying to remain relevant in the sport of boxing. Ultimately this has the making of an epic showdown between two modern day gladiators at the historic Madison Square Garden.

William Shakespeare said, “Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them,” Only one boxer in this era has fought the best opponents, never accused of cherry picking, and has never been alleged to be involved with any performance enhancement drugs, or nutritionist with past involvements with any sort of performance enhancement drug. That boxer has been Miguel Cotto a modern day gladiator and a throwback to the boxers of the golden years. Miguel Cotto is in search of greatness by becoming the first Puerto Rican to win a world title in four weight divisions, in search of stamping his own legacy in this era next to Floyd Mayweather jr. and Manny Pacquiao. Will Miguel Cotto achieve that extra greatness on June 6th 2014 at Madison Square Garden by winning the WBC Middleweight title? Miguel Cotto has a difficult task against a stronger and more powerful opponent the Argentine Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez.

Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez at 5’10” with a reach of 73”  and record of 51-2-2 (28KO) has been in the sport of boxing for some time now and has been ranked among the top pound for pound boxers in the world by the boxing sports media. Martinez has been calling out Cotto, Pacquiao, and Floyd Mayweather jr. Avoided by various boxers at 154 lbs. and 160 lbs. outside the WBA middleweight champ Gennady Golovkin.  Martinez has defeated all the opponents put in front of him at middleweight; be that as it may, his last two victories have been pyrrhic resulting in various injuries and a controversial victory over Martin Murray in front of his Argentine country men in 2013. In 2012 Martinez fought Julio Cesar Chavez jr. who is basically just a crude club boxer that uses his weight advantage against his opponents, has a legendary surname due to his father and the support of the WBC. Martinez just schooled for 11 rounds a Chavez jr. until the 12^th round when Chavez jr. caught Martinez with a shot that dropped him and from that point it Martinez was on survival mode.

Miguel Cotto stands at 5’7” with a reach at 67” and a professional record of 38 victories 4 defeats and 31 KO. His last victory was against the ESPN Friday Night Fights regular Delvin Rodriguez with a 3^rd round TKO in a fight where many “Experts” believed it would be a tough fight for Cotto. However, Cotto won in a convincing fashion. Many missed the point that it wasn’t about the victory but in the fashion that Cotto won.  Cotto is at a height, reach, and a power disadvantage versus Martinez. It’s a hard fight for Cotto to win unless he fights an inside fight thus taking away Martinez athleticism which is a big part of his boxing.  It’s not known how well Martinez has recuperated from his injuries that being a broken hand versus Martin Murray and before that a knee surgery and a fractured left hand after the Chavez Jr. victory. Majority of Martinez’s opponents have been tall and slow.  I can’t recall Martinez fighting an inside fight or defending against a body attack.  A technical Cotto with intelligent methodical pressure to Martinez’s body will be something to look for, if Cotto exchanges vs. Martinez, then he will get KO’d. You have to give credit to Cotto in taking on this fight when others haven’t stepped up to the challenge. A victory by Cotto over Martinez puts him within the top 10 Puerto Rican Boxers of all time, and among one those immortals in boxing history.

 

I give the advantage to Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez if he is 100% physically and can use his athleticism. If Martinez is not 100% physically healthy for the fight then I give Miguel Cotto, a good chance to break down Martinez’s body with a very technical intelligent and methodical pressure for interesting late rounds where both have lacked stamina in their fights. At any rate, this fight looks to be one of the best of 2014.