BSO was in attendance at a very electric Madison Square Garden on Tuesday as Miguel Cotto and Sergio Martinez met the press for the NY leg of their coast-to-coast media tour.
The Cotto/Martinez bout scheduled for June 7 at MSG is a boxing lover’s dream as the two will meet in the ring for the WBC Middleweight Belt, which Martinez holds. The two have no love lost as trash talk between them has gone back and forth, there was no such exception on Tuesday as Martinez mocked Cotto’s ‘diva’ behavior–going so far as to say (in Spanish) “I can imagine he’s [Cotto] going to ask for rose petals otherwise he won’t walk into the ring,”
Martinez has long called out Cotto for his perceived arrogance, and it’s that intensity and tension which will pay dividends in the ring for viewers waiting with baited breath. Cotto didn’t do much calling out at the podium, instead promising the fans that the best fighter will win.
Both fighter’s strong allegiance to their home countries was a focal point during the presser, with Puerto Rican pride always surrounding Cotto in New York, especially with history being on the line:
“Being here to try to become the first Puerto Rican to win titles in four different weight classes and being able to do it in front of all those Puerto Rican fans is going to give me the extra motivation to beat Sergio Martinez,”
This bout has a particular sense of importance for both fighters, with Cotto losing his last match in MSG against Austin Trout. And for Martinez, at 39-years-old how much strength does he have left in him, especially after a third knee surgery and being out of the ring for an entire year.
There will be many factors to take into account when settling on who to pit as favorite–Sergio’s resilience vs Cotto’s training with Freddie Roach, both will have a role in what’s sure to be a fight to remember in the Mecca.