Going into his bout with Sergio Martinez, there were still a lot of questions surrounding Miguel Cotto.
In his prior fight, Cotto had broken a two-fight losing streak when he stopped Devlin Rodriguez in the third round. But even with the convincing win, questions still surrounded Cotto’s back-to-back losses to Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Austin Trout.
One of the questions that was answered in the Rodriguez fight was whether Cotto and legendary trainer Freddie Roach would mesh. The question was answered with a resounding “yes.”
Martinez had his questions. Those questions were centered around his health. Martinez had broken his left hand in his last two bouts, plus he had right knee surgery.
At 39, Martinez had won seven straight fights after his loss to Paul Williams. During the streak, he avenged the Williams loss.
The Roach influence was on full display in the first round. Cotto was on his toes and quickly recognized that, on this night, he would be the fighter with the faster hands.
In the first round, Cotto would hurt Martinez with a left hook that led to a knockdown a short time later. Cotto would go on to knock down Martinez two more times in the first, scoring a rare 10-6 in a fight that has two bona fide champions.
In the next two rounds, Cotto’s ring movement paid two dividends. The first was that it kept guiding Martinez into his left hand, and the second was that it cut the ring off.
In the fourth, Cotto’s straight right hand started to land. This was particularly troubling when you consider that punch isn’t a strength of Cotto. It raised questions about whether Martinez’ knee would continue to limit his ability to create angles. If so, that would leave him open to Cotto’s power punches.
The fight slowed down in the fifth, and that gave Martinez a chance to be effective. Martinez was able to land his jab, and although it was a close round, it was Martinez’ best round.
That momentum carried into the sixth round. With the round virtually even going into the last 30 seconds or so, Martinez let go of the rope. Cotto decided to pour it on in that time and clearly won the round, and ended all hope for Martinez, even if he didn’t know it at the time.
Cotto’s speed was starting to take over. He stayed behind the left jab and the body, and Martinez continued to break down, including a knockdown in the 9th, until he retired on his stool between rounds before the 10th round.
Scorecards at the time of the stoppage:
90-77 Cotto
90-77 Cotto
90-77 Cotto
MTC Media scored the fight 89-78 for Cotto.
For Cotto, the win over Martinez signaled his last major victory. Two fights later, Cotto would lose to Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in his last big fight.
Martinez would fight six more times against low-level competition, winning all of them.
