With clouds hanging over the WBC middleweight championship situation, negotiations between Miguel Cotto's team and Sergio Martinez's camp remain ongoing. While both sides are clamming up to an extent, one detail has leaked about the talks-the issue of a catchweight.
Cotto has been very clear about his desire to become the first Puerto Rican fighter to become a champion in four weight classes. Part of that is not imposing any weight restrictions on the larger Martinez.
"I can't give too many details about the negotiations," Sampson Lewkowicz, Martinez's adviser said. "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."
A clear issue, however, is whether or not there will be any title up for grabs. Martinez injured his hand and knee in his last fight vs. Martin Murray in Argentina and hasn't fought since that April 2013 bout. The WBC recently announced that Marco Antonio Rubio and Domenico Spada will face off on April 5th for the WBC interim middleweight strap. Martinez will be granted the first shot at reclaiming the throne, but this means he won't have it come June 7th.
Most boxing fans are hoping that the title issue can be resolved, and this matchup can go forward, because the relationship between these fighters is apparently testy. The frostiness largely comes from Martinez, who has felt disrespected by Cotto on several occasions. He even said he'd knock Cotto out within six rounds.
I'll say it, I don't think that he'll last five rounds," Martinez said. "I would like to fight Cotto, but he is showing signs that he doesn't want to [fight], by asking for complicated conditions and he does not respect boxing history. I'm ready to knock Cotto out in five or six rounds and I know I will."
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