Sergio Martinez vs. Miguel Cotto: Two Good Men

At 9.15 on the evening of June 7, 2014, Sergio Martinez entered dressing place #5 at Madison Square Yard with coach Pablo Sarmiento, cutman Roger Anderson, and actual physical therapist Raquel Bordons. Cornerman Russ Anber and Nathan Lewkowicz (the son of promoter Sampson Lewkowicz) followed. The place was little and angularly-shaped with brown industrial carpet and cream-colored cinderblock partitions. Two doorways down the corridor, Miguel Cotto was ensconsed in dressing area #3.

In two-and-a-50 percent several hours, Martinez and Cotto would fight for the middleweight championship of the entire world. Sergio was the defending winner, but his dressing room was a single-3rd the dimensions of Miguel’s. Other slights experienced lower deeper.

The struggle and all advertising substance for it had been styled “Cotto-Martinez” fairly than the other way all around. “It bothers me,” Sergio admitted, “because it is disrespectful to the heritage and traditions of boxing. But Cotto stated there would be no battle if his name wasn’t first on the posters. I can consider that, on June 7, he will ask for rose petals to be thrown at his feet or he won’t stroll to the ring.”

Additional appreciably, the funds of the struggle were weighted in the challenger’s favor. Cotto and Leading Rank (Miguel’s promoter) had retained Puerto Rican tv legal rights off the major. The first $15,000,000 in web earnings following that would be split 55 per cent to Cotto and Leading Rank, 45 for every cent to Martinez and his promoters (DiBella Amusement and Sampson Promotions). Thereafter, the split would improve to 60-40.

To Cotto, that was honest and logical. “Two times in my occupation – when I fought Pacquiao and when I fought Mayweather – I was the winner but I was the B-aspect,” Miguel pointed out. “I comprehended my situation. Sergio Martinez is a great fighter, but boxing is a enterprise. For this battle, I am the just one who sells the tickets.”

A fighter’s dressing place is a sheltered planet in the hrs in advance of a big struggle. In Sergio’s circumstance, the temper was regular from bout to bout comfortable and low-vital until finally the last minutes when smiles evaporated.

Some fighters are intimidated by a massive-struggle environment. Martinez thrived on it. He liked the spotlight. His 2012 bout versus Julio Cesar Chavez Jnr had been extra individual for him than this a single mainly because of the backroom working that led to his championship being briefly taken from him. But he’d reclaimed the throne in entrance of a raucous group of Chavez partisans. Now he was eager to perform on an even even bigger phase.

Referee Mike Griffin came into the dressing place and gave Martinez his pre-battle directions. Russ Anber wrapped Sergio’s fingers. Martinez set on his shoes and trunks and shadow-boxed briefly. Then he pulled a protecting latex sleeve up more than just about every knee. “A precaution,” he described. “Not a requirement.”

A precaution deemed recommended for the reason that of the surgical treatment and rehabilitation that Martinez experienced been through the prior yr.

Pablo Sarmiento gloved Sergio up. Previously in the night, New York Point out Athletic Fee inspector Ernie Morales experienced initialed Martinez’s handwraps. Now Sue Etkin (the other inspector assigned to Sergio) wrote “Sue” on the tape masking the lace on each and every glove.

Martinez hit the pads with Sarmiento.

Songs played – Out of Command, sung by You Aren’t Likely to Like This. The same track, once again and once again.

There was anticipation in Sergio’s eyes. Madison Square Backyard garden. The middleweight championship of the earth. A screaming bloodlust group of 21,090 waited.

For Muhammad Ali, boxing was a activity. Joe Frazier dealt with it as beat. In Martinez’s thoughts, he was getting ready for a sporting competitors. Two doorways down the corridor, Miguel Cotto was preparing for beat.

Like most fighters, Martinez arrived from a hard world. He’s a considerate intelligent gentleman, often philosophical. Expanding up in the slums of Buenos Aires, he didn’t know what “dinner” was. The relatives did not sit down together at an appointed hour. When foodstuff arrived into the house, they ate it.

“When you are very modest, a baby, you really don’t know that you are weak,” Sergio explained, reflecting again on that time. “Even nevertheless you are hungry and cold, if you have the adore of your dad and mom, you are joyful with what you have mainly because you’re utilised to that everyday living and it’s all you know. Then you grow to be an adolescent. You begin to understand what you really don’t have and commence to feel about how to get what you want. You can get the job done really hard or you can take the shorter path and change to crime. If you have excellent mother and father, it would make a significant distinction in choosing which route you just take. When you are an adult, you realize entirely what you missed as a boy or girl. And all over again, you have a option. You can truly feel sorry for oneself or you can sense delight at exactly where you arrived from and wherever you’ve gotten to in lifestyle. I give many thanks to the reality that I grew up bad simply because it aids me enjoy what I have now.”

“The quite poor recognize with boxing,” Sergio continued. “They search at boxers and relate to the financial situations that we came from and to our struggle. They admire the bravery we have to battle to get to the upcoming amount. The pretty wealthy look at boxers as two animals making an attempt to eliminate just about every other for their amusement. They really don’t discover on a human degree with the fighters. Lots of of them – I genuinely consider this – want to see me are unsuccessful in the close, lose all my dollars, and go again to nothing. It is like a game for them. And sadly, most boxers who go from really poor to quite rich go again quickly to becoming poor once again.”

Taken severally, Sergio’s functions are not classically handsome. But they match with each other nicely and his smile further binds them with each other. Trend designers adore to hang outfits on him. He has a potent actual physical existence and carries himself with grace. Each individual now and then, a challenging seem creeps into his eyes, as however he is remembering the hardships of his youth or the needs of his trade.

Boxing was Martinez’s route to a far better lifetime. “I was a great student,” he explained. “But my relatives didn’t have the income to continue my training. Without the need of my bodily presents, I never imagine I would have found my way out of poverty. But I feel that absolutely everyone has a route if they select to comply with it. Every person has a expertise that is exclusive.”

Martinez turned pro in 1997 and fought in obscurity for a great deal of his ring job. Now, fourteen many years later on, he had missing only twice in 55 fights. The initially defeat came in 2000 at the palms of Antonio Margarito. “I was skilled but I was not ready,” Martinez stated of that fight. “I started off effectively, but it was extremely hard for me to earn that evening. He was a qualified boxer, a wonderful winner. And at that instant, I was a boxer who, three or four a long time in advance of, was doing work on roofs. I was participating in soccer with my pals when Margarito had previously been a professional boxer for 6 or 7 many years. What experienced to take place transpired. In phrases of spirit, I hardly ever was down soon after that defeat.”

The second decline was a vast majority-selection verdict in a bout from Paul Williams in 2009. Martinez rebounded from that setback by dethroning middleweight winner Kelly Pavlik on April 17, 2010, and knocking Williams unconscious with a solitary punch in the next spherical of a November 20, 2010, rematch. All those victories attained him recognition from the Boxing Writers Association of The usa as its 2010 “Fighter of the Yr.”

A tattoo of a dragon was imprinted on the outside the house of Martinez’s left arm from his shoulder to his elbow. In January 2013, he’d extra the word “resistencia” (resistance) on the inside of his suitable forearm and “victoria” (victory) on the within of his still left forearm.

“The existence I have chosen revolves about those people two words,” Sergio mentioned, explaining the latter two tattoos. “When I was making ready to combat Chavez [in September 2012], they have been continually in my head. Then I signed to battle Martin Murray. I was not enthusiastic, and I considered the tattoos would aid motivate me. There will be no additional tattoos. I do not like tattoos. I by no means desired tattoos. I loathe tattoos. It is a contradiction, I know. I are unable to make clear it except to say, in two quick times in time, I assumed it was vital to have these tattoos on my system.”

Cotto-Martinez harkened again to a time when New York was the capitol of the sports world. Previously in the day, California Chrome’s pursuit of racing’s Triple Crown experienced drawn a group of 102,000 to the Belmont Stakes. On combat night, Madison Sq. Garden was rocking.

Cotto was bidding to turn into the very first Puerto Rican to win titles in 4 weight divisions. This would be his ninth struggle in the huge Back garden arena and the first for Martinez. A few thousand lovers had attended the Friday weigh-in. It would have been extra, but the doorways to The Theater at MSG have been shut an hour right before the fighters stepped on the scales.

Cotto-Martinez was an intriguing match-up between two powerful personalities who had served boxing perfectly. Martinez was a 2/1 betting most loved, but the outcome of the battle was quite much in question.

The scenario for a Martinez victory commenced with the belief that Cotto was not “Cotto” anymore. Miguel had lost two fights in a row (to Floyd Mayweather and Austin Trout) ahead of blowing out journeyman Delvin Rodriguez the prior October. Prior to all those fights, he’d been brutalised by Antonio Margarito and Manny Pacquiao and looked regular in victories about Yuri Foreman and Ricardo Mayorga as effectively as in a rematch against Margarito.

Trout was considered to have specified Martinez a roadmap for beating Cotto. Like Sergio, Austin was a tall southpaw. Twelve months before, he’d outpointed Miguel 119-109, 117-111, 117-111. Questioned at a sitdown with reporters about the parallels involving Trout and Martinez, Cotto responded, “I fought Trout in 2012. Now it is 2014. I by no means observed that fight soon after that night, and I have no options to see it yet again.”

That seemed like a lousy circumstance of denial. Moreover, for the to start with time in a prolonged time, Martinez would be moving into the ring with a peak (3 inches) and pounds (four lbs) edge above his opponent.

“I like to check out my opponents,” Martinez has mentioned. “I like researching them a ton. Much more than what they do, it is how they believe. I want to know what my opponent is imagining. After I have viewed them, I can figure them out the tips they have, their approach, their tactic.”

Viewing Cotto, Sergio experienced witnessed Pacquiao and Mayweather beat Miguel with speed and Margarito beat him with electric power.

“Cotto does not have the similar energy at this fat that he had at 147,” Martinez declared. “I am the ability-puncher of the two of us. When I commence to uncover my rhythm, my timing, and the ideal length, the fight will be above.”

Crew Cotto, of program, held to a opposite watch.

Cotto would be the most intelligent and technically-experienced opponent that Martinez experienced confronted. Freddie Roach (Miguel’s coach) was self-confident that edge would help his fighter to exploit the flaws in Sergio’s style.

“Martinez is a good athlete,” Roach mentioned. “I would not call him a wonderful boxer. If you hold on your own in a great placement, most of the time you are going to handle the fight. Sergio’s footwork is reckless. He’s all over the spot. Miguel can consider edge of that. And I assume Miguel can conquer Martinez down the center. Sergio’s protection is not all that excellent, if you exchange with him, permit your palms go, he’s incredibly hittable. Chavez did not do that until finally the last round, and you saw what took place when he did. I believe Cotto’s boxing capacity will be too significantly for Martinez to cope with.”

On the problem of size and electricity, Cotto declared, “It’s not about getting the fat. It is about not having to get rid of the pounds. For the initial time in my vocation, I’m not anxious about producing fat. I can consume to be potent.”

“We moved up the bodyweight a minor little bit and place on far more muscle mass,” Roach extra. “I consider Miguel will be much better on the inside and significantly much more actual physical on the inside of than Martínez is. We’re heading to push him about with no trouble. On the inside of we’re the even bigger stronger fighter.”

But the most important problem encompassing Cotto-Martinez was Sergio’s bodily affliction. Some folks considered that Cotto was shot. Nearly everyone believed that Martinez was fragile.

Forty-three months experienced handed considering that Sergio’s demolition of Paul Williams. Subsequent to that, he had appeared susceptible. Extra than most fighters, Martinez fights with his legs. But in modern fights, his legs had betrayed him.

Soon after decisioning Martin Murray in 2013, Martinez underwent main knee surgery.

“The recuperation was pretty painful,” Sergio acknowledged. “I was on crutches for nine months, and it is really tricky to come again from that. But this is the street that I selected, and I take pleasure in the achievement of coming again from anything like this. Right now, I am just the exact as when there had been no knee issues. I have prevail over all obstacles.”

That assumed was echoed by bodily therapist Raquel Bordons, who claimed in the dressing room an hour in advance of the struggle, “Sergio’s condtion is much more than I could have hoped for. He is quite, extremely fantastic now.”

But was Martinez completely fixed after the surgery, or was he a 39-12 months-previous athlete with sub-standard entire body pieces? Tom Gerbasi framed the situation when he wrote, “It’s pretty much as if Martinez creating it to the ring is the equal of New York Knicks captain Willis Reed limping out of the tunnel for Game Seven of the NBA Finals towards the Los Angeles Lakers on May perhaps 8, 1970, to encourage his group and get them off to the get started they essential to acquire the activity and the title. It is bought that really feel, that buzz, that for 1 additional night, a wonderful winner can be excellent. Saturday evening is Sergio Martinez’s Video game 7. But this is no basketball game. Martinez simply cannot hit two baskets, go back again to the bench, and depart his teammates to complete the get the job done like Reed did. This is a battle, twelve rounds with the finest fighter Martinez has ever been in with. 30-6 minutes of put on and tear, actual physical and mental warfare.”

“Who do you like in the battle?” boxing maven Pete Susens was asked.

“Whichever person has one particular last large battle still left in him,” Susens answered.

For the duration of the establish-up to Cotto-Martinez, Sergio had told the media, “It has been my aspiration for a very long time to fight in the large room at Madison Sq. Backyard.”

On battle night, that aspiration turned into a nightmare.

The intensely pro-Cotto crowd was chanting “Cotto, Cotto” even just before the bell to get started spherical 1 rang. It didn’t have to wait around very long for pleasure. Just one moment into the first stanza, Cotto staggered Martinez with a remaining hook up prime, A barrage of punches place Sergio facial area down on the canvas. He rose on unsteady legs and, a moment afterwards, was decked once again by a appropriate hand. The moment additional, he struggled to his ft. Practically immediately, a human body shot place him down for the 3rd time.

That remaining Martinez with a gaping hole to climb out of on the judges’ scorecards. And even worse, he was now a debilitated fighter.

“The initially punch that hurt me, after that, I hardly ever recovered,” Sergio stated in his dressing home right after the battle. “I wasn’t the very same following that. I could not do everything. My thoughts was disconnected from my physique. My thoughts instructed me to do a little something, and my entire body wouldn’t do it.”

A brutal beatdown adopted. Cotto punished Martinez nearly at will to the head and human body. Anything that Miguel landed appeared to harm. Sergio’s only hope was that Cotto would fade in the late rounds, as had transpired in several current outings. But with each passing spherical, it became more unlikely that Martinez would have anything still left if and when that eventuality transpired. As the combat wore on, the dilemma was not who would win, but how substantially punishment Martinez could acquire. Sergio was not just currently being outpointed. He was finding beaten up. All that he experienced left was his coronary heart.

Right after nine rounds, Pablo Sarmiento stopped the carnage. In the dressing room right after the battle, the coach recounted, “I explained to him, ‘Sergio, champion, you suggest a lot more to me than I necessarily mean to myself. I am stopping it now.’ Sergio pleaded with me, ‘One much more round.’ I explained to him no, and he accepted that.”

If Cotto-Martinez was Miguel’s greatest hour, it was also Sarmiento’s.

As Pablo spoke, Martinez sat on a folding cushioned chair. His confront was bruised and swollen. There was a reduce on his right eyelid and an unattractive gash on prime of his head. The appropriate side of his overall body, where by Cotto’s left hook had landed once again and again, ached. Luckily, a article-battle vacation to Bellevue Clinic for a precautionary MRI unveiled nothing at all more significant than a broken nose.

Prior to fighting Cotto, Sergio Martinez told this author, “I want to be remembered initially as a very good particular person and a man of integrity. Following that, if people today don’t forget me as a very good fighter, that would be nice.”

Record will record that he was each.