Cotto vs Martinez official for June 7

By Scott Christ for Bad Left Hook.com on Feb 20, 2014

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Sergio Martinez and Miguel Cotto are set to go for a June 7 HBO pay-per-view showdown, with Martinez returning from what will by then be a 14-month absence to defend his middleweight crown against three-division champ Cotto.



Martinez (51-2-2, 28 KO) will be giving up "home field" to Cotto (38-4, 31 KO), as the fight will take place at Miguel's favorite venue, Madison Square Garden in New York. For his career, Cotto is 7-1 at MSG, though the one loss came in his last fight there against Austin Trout in December 2012. He's fought just once since then, teaming up with another new trainer in Freddie Roach to dismantle Delvin Rodriguez on October 5, 2013, in Orlando, Florida.



Sergio hasn't fought since April 2013, when he got the benefit of the doubt (or a gift) at home in Argentina against Martin Murray. After that fight, a banged-up, aging Martinez decided to take an extended break from the ring to allow his body to heal. That could go one of two ways on June 7: either the time off will have done Martinez some good, or at 39 tomorrow, his body is simply wearing out and potentially robbing him of his speed and reflexes, which have been the key assets in getting him to the top of the sport.



Cotto, 33, will be giving up three inches of height (listed 5'10" to 5'7") and six inches reach (73" to 67"). He's a much smaller man than Martinez, but Martinez isn't used to "fighting big," either, as he's generally been the little guy at 160, a division he's largely dominated since 2010, even though he's really more of a natural junior middleweight.



The fight will have a fairly pointless catchweight of 159 pounds, one below the normal middleweight limit.

Statistics: Posted by bgosh — Feb 20. 2014, 20:58 — Replies 0 — Views 6

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