Photo by Chris Farina for Top Rank
by Gautham Nagesh
Madison Square Garden in midtown Manhattan will once again be the center of the boxing universe on Saturday, when middleweight champion Sergio Martinez defends his crown against Puerto Rican icon Miguel Cotto.
As the champion the Argentine is a deserving favorite, but the New York crowd will undoubtedly be heavily boricua and squarely in Cotto’s corner. This is the kind of fight I would have bought a ticket to see myself, if I hadn’t just returned from an international trip. Instead our senior writer in New York Sarah Deming will handle fight night coverage, while I will be at home hoping neither of these likable champions takes too much damage in the fight.
The choice between Cotto and Martinez ultimately comes down to how much one thinks Maravilla has left. Martinez looked lucky to win his last bout, but that was against a real middleweight in Martin Murray. Cotto is a puffed-up junior middleweight, and a veteran of many wars himself. The size and strength of Martinez should be too much for the Puerto Rican, and we expect his left hand to force at least a knockdown, if not a stoppage.
But Cotto has a chance if Maravilla is truly shopworn or unable to move thanks to his balky knee. Cotto remains an excellent boxer, and a strategy similar to his rematch with Antonio Margarito could potentially produce a decision victory. Cotto still boasts one of the best left hooks in the game, but a key question is whether he has enough power to hold off the larger Martinez.
Regardless of who wins, the atmosphere should be electric and HBO should enjoy a solid Pay Per View yield. A weak undercard features middleweight Andy Lee against John Jackson, along with Marvin Sonsona vs. Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. at 122 lbs. For those who can’t catch the PPV, stay tuned for full coverage right here.
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Photos by Esther Lin for Showtime
Friday night’s edition of ShoBox from Indio Calif. features middleweights Hugo Centeno (left) and Gerardo Ibarra in the main event. Ibarra (right) is a late replacement for Detroit’s Domonique Dolton, who was forced to pull out due to injury. We feel for Dolton, who would have stood a solid chance of upsetting the touted Centeno.
The co-feature matches Bronx welterweight Eddie Gomez (below left), who Sarah has tracked closely, and Francisco Santana, who should provide a decent test. Gomez has looked good of late, but Santana has some solid wins and shouldn’t be taken lightly.
We’re more excited about recent Al Haymon signee David “Day Day” Grayton IV of D.C. fighting German Valdez on the undercard, but it probably won’t be televised. 2012 U.S. Olympian Terrell Gausha of Cleveland will also fight a ten-rounder at middleweight.
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The weekend got off to an early start with last night’s Fox Sports 1 show featuring two local prospects in Boston…Friday Night Fights on ESPN2 features a 10-rounder at 154 lbs. between Yudel Jhonson and Norberto Gonzalez…Fox Deportes will air a 130-lb scrap between Daniel Ponce de Leon and Miguel Roman on Saturday on next-day tape…D.C. heavyweight Tony Thompson heads to Paris on Saturday and hopes to stay in contention by beating Cameroon’s Carlos Takam.
