NEW YORK, NY / MIAMI FL (5/20/14) – World Boxing Council (WBC)/The Ring middleweight champion and Argentina’s favorite son, SERGIO “Maravilla” MARTÍNEZ, along with promoter Lou DiBella, held an international media conference all earlier today in anticipation of his upcoming world title defense and the most eagerly anticipated boxing event of 2014 against three-division world champion and the Pride of Puerto Rico, MIGUEL COTTO.
Below are a few quick notes from the call. A complete transcript to follow.
SERGIO MARTINEZ: My knee is feeling great and I have been running in the mornings. I haven’t felt this good in a very long time.
I am the same as I was before there ever were any knee problems. I have overcome all of the obstacles and all of the problems my knee caused in the past.
There is no hatred toward Miguel, we are both professionals. I am totally focused on the fight and totally focused on the task at hand, which is beating Miguel Cotto.
Miguel does not have the same power at this weight as he does at 147lbs. I am the power-puncher out of the two of us. The most important factor in this fight, though, is the level of intelligence that I will use on June 7th.
I am not worried about the judges being swayed in this bout or any questionable decisions, because there is no way that this fight is going the distance.
This fight is right up there with Paul Williams and Kelly Pavlik as one of the most important of my career.
LOU DIBELLA: This was not an easy negotiation. We had to keep calling Sergio with constant changes that we had to make for this fight to happen, and it bothered Sergio. That came out in the initial press conferences, where everyone could see that Sergio was clearly agitated. Sergio has since channeled that to his benefit and he is now totally focused on the fight, and singled in on giving Cotto a real beating and walking out of Madison Square Garden on June 7th with his championship belt.
Sergio is a true professional so at this point in his training and this close to the fight, his only concentration is beating up Miguel Cotto.
SAMPSON LEWKOWICZ: This is a historic event that is happening on June 7th. Sergio is 100% healthy, and if not 100% then he is 99%. Like Lou said, this is a huge fight for Sergio and his career, arguably the biggest. This is by far the Pay-Per-View of the year.
Promoted by Miguel Cotto Promotions, Top Rank®, DiBella Entertainment and Sampson Boxing, in association with Maravilla Box, Tecate and Madison Square Garden, the Cotto vs. Martínez World Middleweight Championship event takes place Saturday, June 7, at the “Mecca of Boxing,” Madison Square Garden and will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View®, beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET / 6:00 p.m. PT.
HBO’s Emmy-Award®-winning reality series “24/7,” which has captured 18 Sports Emmys in its first seven seasons, returns with an all-new edition when “24/7 Cotto/Martinez” premieres Saturday, May 31 at 11:15 p.m. (ET/PT) on HBO.
Cotto (39-4, 31 KOs), of Caguas, Puerto Rico, who has sold more tickets to The Garden than any other fighter in this millennium, will attempt to become Puerto Rico’s first four-division world champion while Martínez (51-2-2, 28 KOs), of Quilmes, Buenos Aires, Argentina, who has never lost a world championship fight, defends the title he first won in 2010. Both gladiators boast a combined record of 89-6-2 (59 KOs) – a winning percentage of 92% and a victory by knockout ratio of 66%.
Tickets to the Cotto vs. Martínez World Middleweight Championship are on sale now andpriced at $750, $500, $300, $200, $100 and $50. Tickets can be purchased at the Madison Square Garden Box Office, all Ticketmaster outlets, Ticketmaster charge by phone (866-858-0008), and online at www.ticketmaster.com and www.thegarden.com.
