The rumors of Miguel Cotto fighting middleweight champion Sergio Martinez are becoming less hear say and more fact. One of the key points of their negotiations rest at the weight where the two boxers would fight.
Miguel Cotto is set on fighting at 160 lbs, not at a catch-weight, because it’d give him a title in his 4th different weight class. No other Puerto Rican boxer has accomplished that feat and it’d rank Cotto as one of the best Latino fighters of all time.
Martinez advisor Sampson Lewkowicz had this to say about the negotiations:
“I can’t give too many details about the negotiations. Our promoter Lou DiBella is handling those discussions. It is my understanding, if the fight were to happen, it will happen at the full middleweight limit. Cotto wants to become a real middleweight champion. The middleweight champion fights at 160-pounds. Cotto wants to make history and has no problem with the weight.”
Martinez should be more than comfortable at this weight figuring he’s been fighting in that division for quite some time. Truthfully, Martinez doesn’t have much say in these negotiations. Cotto is the big money fighter in this match-up and even though Martinez is the champion he doesn’t carry the fan-base or worth of his challenger.
Cotto is locked in to fight on June 7th at Madison Square Garden in NYC, whether that opponent is Martinez is yet to be decided but it seems like its a done deal.