http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/i...-challenge-sergio-martinez-middleweight-title
In a fight with major historical implications, former three-division titleholder Miguel Cotto of Puerto Rico will move up in weight to challenge middleweight champion Sergio Martinez of Argentina in one of the year's biggest bouts.
The fight will take place June 7 (HBO PPV) at Madison Square Garden and match two probable Hall of Famers on the weekend of the annual Puerto Rican Day parade in New York. The bout has been in the works for a couple months and was finalized Thursday before both boxers took to Twitter to announce the deal was complete.
"It's done. Ready to go," Top Rank president Todd duBoef, Cotto's promoter, told ESPN.com. "I think the energy and the passion associated with both these fighters and the passion that their countries have for them is going to make this an incredible event and an incredible fight, maybe unprecedented in my career.
"You're talking about two icons in their countries, two guys who represent so much to their people and now they are going to get in the ring and do it."
They will meet at a maximum contract weight of 159 pounds, one below the middleweight maximum of 160, according to duBoef. Shaving one pound from the division limit is a concession to the smaller Cotto, although Martinez is not a big middleweight and has long said that for the right fight he would drop down to the 154-pound junior middleweight division, where he once held a world title.
Cotto, 33, who has won world titles at junior welterweight, welterweight and junior middleweight, is aiming to become the first Puerto Rican fighter to win world titles in four weight divisions. And he will be doing it against the recognized 160-pound champion, not just an alphabet titleholder.
Immediately after Cotto (38-4, 31 KOs) ended a two-fight losing streak by knocking out Delvin Rodriguez in an explosive performance Oct. 5 in Orlando, Fla. -- Cotto's first fight working with Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach -- he said he wanted to fight Martinez next.
Martinez (51-2-2, 28 KOs), who will be making his seventh title defense, will be fighting for the first time since last April, when he got knocked down and narrowly outpointed England's Martin Murray in an Argentina homecoming fight before a crowd of about 50,000 at a soccer stadium in Buenos Aires.
Now Martinez, 38, is coming to Madison Square Garden, an arena that Cotto has packed with his large Puerto Rican following many times. Martinez is coming off a long layoff because of a right knee injury that has required two surgeries. He re-injured his knee against Murray after first injuring it (and having it surgically repaired) in his lopsided points victory against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in September 2012. He hurt his knee when Chavez dropped him in the 12th round and nearly pulled the upset.
Roach trained Chavez for that fight, so he knows what he will be going up against in Martinez.
In a fight with major historical implications, former three-division titleholder Miguel Cotto of Puerto Rico will move up in weight to challenge middleweight champion Sergio Martinez of Argentina in one of the year's biggest bouts.
The fight will take place June 7 (HBO PPV) at Madison Square Garden and match two probable Hall of Famers on the weekend of the annual Puerto Rican Day parade in New York. The bout has been in the works for a couple months and was finalized Thursday before both boxers took to Twitter to announce the deal was complete.
"It's done. Ready to go," Top Rank president Todd duBoef, Cotto's promoter, told ESPN.com. "I think the energy and the passion associated with both these fighters and the passion that their countries have for them is going to make this an incredible event and an incredible fight, maybe unprecedented in my career.
"You're talking about two icons in their countries, two guys who represent so much to their people and now they are going to get in the ring and do it."
They will meet at a maximum contract weight of 159 pounds, one below the middleweight maximum of 160, according to duBoef. Shaving one pound from the division limit is a concession to the smaller Cotto, although Martinez is not a big middleweight and has long said that for the right fight he would drop down to the 154-pound junior middleweight division, where he once held a world title.
Cotto, 33, who has won world titles at junior welterweight, welterweight and junior middleweight, is aiming to become the first Puerto Rican fighter to win world titles in four weight divisions. And he will be doing it against the recognized 160-pound champion, not just an alphabet titleholder.
Immediately after Cotto (38-4, 31 KOs) ended a two-fight losing streak by knocking out Delvin Rodriguez in an explosive performance Oct. 5 in Orlando, Fla. -- Cotto's first fight working with Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach -- he said he wanted to fight Martinez next.
Martinez (51-2-2, 28 KOs), who will be making his seventh title defense, will be fighting for the first time since last April, when he got knocked down and narrowly outpointed England's Martin Murray in an Argentina homecoming fight before a crowd of about 50,000 at a soccer stadium in Buenos Aires.
Now Martinez, 38, is coming to Madison Square Garden, an arena that Cotto has packed with his large Puerto Rican following many times. Martinez is coming off a long layoff because of a right knee injury that has required two surgeries. He re-injured his knee against Murray after first injuring it (and having it surgically repaired) in his lopsided points victory against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in September 2012. He hurt his knee when Chavez dropped him in the 12th round and nearly pulled the upset.
Roach trained Chavez for that fight, so he knows what he will be going up against in Martinez.
