After two consecutive losses in 2012 and changing his trainer to Freddie Roach, three division world champion Miguel Cotto (38-4, 31 KO’s) didn’t waste much time against a gallant but outclassed Delvin Rodriguez (28-7-3, 16 KO’s) last Saturday on HBO. At the beginning of the first round, Cotto put on the pressure and stalked the taller Rodriguez and began to chop him down like a tree. Cotto quickly started connecting with the right hand to the body of Rodriguez and then followed it up with his sharp left hook to the head. In the second round, Cotto continued to stalk Rodriguez as his opponent tried to keep his distance from the pressuring former champion. In the second round, Cotto landed a big right hand to the body of Rodriguez against the ropes that caused him to wince in obvious pain. At the end of the round, Cotto landed a right-hand left hook combination to the head of the stoic Rodriguez that clearly stunned him. The power of Cotto’s punches were starting to become obvious as to who had the harder punches in the match. This was the beginning of the end as the bell sounded for the third round of this junior middleweight match. It only took eighteen seconds of the third round for Cotto to land a right to the body and a quick left hook to the head of Rodriguez as he was on the ropes, and he went down. The fight was over and it didn’t take long before names of new opponents started to come out of the woodwork.
The top two names suggested as Cotto’s next opponent were Saul “el Canelo” Alvarez (42-1-1, 30 KO’s) from Mexico, a rising star who was outdueled in his last match, and the WBC middleweight champion, Sergio “el Maravilla” Martinez (51-2-2, 28 KO’s) from Argentina. Although Alvarez would be the more lucrative fight for Cotto, Top Rank has thrown in the name of the Argentinean because this would give Cotto the chance to get a fourth world title in a higher weight division. And it didn’t take long for Sampson Lewhowicz, advisor to Martinez to respond that “el Maravilla is willing to fight Cotto at a catchweight of 158 pounds with the WBC belt up for grabs. As for Freddie Roach, Cotto’s new trainer, he was quoted as saying he knows how to beat Martinez and he thinks he has “the right guy to do it this time.”
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