After dismantling an overmatched Delvin Rodriguez on October 5th, Miguel Cotto appears ready for any challenger willing to withstand his withering body punches, rediscovered under the tutelage of Freddie Roach.
After Cotto's easy win, Roach responded "Line them up," to a question from Max Kellerman about whether Cotto was read to face elite competition once again. Prior to beating Rodriguez, Cotto had lost back-to-back decisions to Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Austin Trout.
Now, it appears as if Top Rank is working with HBO to put together a fight pitting Cotto against middleweight champion Sergio Martinez. Cotto has expressed interest in fighting Martinez, because taking "Maravilla's" title would represent a championship in four weight classes for Cotto. He would be the only Puerto Rican fighter in boxing history to earn that distinction.
"To be the first Puerto Rican to win titles in four weight divisions would be very tempting to me," Cotto said. "I have to talk to my team, but going for a middleweight championship would be [a goal]."
Sampson Lewkowicz, a promoter for Martinez, told BoxingScene.com that the likelihood of a fight getting made is high.
"Team Martinez is focused on this fight. He would love to fight Cotto, it's good for the fans and for boxing," Lewkowicz said.
"It could be at the New York Giants football stadium in New Jersey. It would be a historical event that would be part of the continuation from Argentina where there were 50,000 fans cheering for Sergio. It would be in June on the weekend of the Puerto Rican Day parade."
Lewkowicz went on to say that Martinez feels slighted by the way Cotto's interacted with him, or failed to in the past. "Martinez feels very insulted that Cotto didn't show him any respect when they met at the ESPN Desportes studios in Mexico City. Martinez has respect for every champion and felt that Cotto showed no respect.
"They've never had a conversation but you will see an aggressive Martinez at the press conference, he dislikes him a lot."
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