When Sergio Martinez and Miguel Cottto face each other on Saturday, both fighters will enter the ring with a few obvious advantages and disadvantages vis-?-vis his opponent.
And while it’s widely accepted the middleweight champion is naturally bigger and three inches taller than the Puerto Rican legend, are some underestimating the Argentine’s advantage in one crucial area?
According to BoxRec, Sergio Martinez’s reach is 73 inches, six inches longer than Cotto’s. Given Martinez’s perceived advantages in speed as well as his impeccable footwork and awesome use of angles, the weighty six inch difference in reach may only accentuate the Argentine?s strong points.
When standing square, the fighter with the greater wingspan can hit his foe at a distance where he cannot be reached, regardless of any height or structural size advantage the fighter with the shorter reach has.
On the outside, of course, the onus is on the longer-armed fighter to find that distance and minimize his opponent’s use of angles advantageous to him. The greater one?s reach advantage, the easier it is for him to find that safe distance from which to operate. Reach, of course, is not the end-all be-all of fighting. After all, a 5’7″ boxer with a 70 inch reach can out-jab a 6’4″ opponent with an 81 inch by exhibiting superior speed, better footwork and technique and/or a greater sense of timing. However, like height in basketball, reach can be very advantageous in boxing if the rangier fighter knows how to effectively use that edge.
So if Martinez is faster than Cotto and employs more movement come June 7, what must the Puerto Rican legend do to win?
Timing The old adage is ‘timing beats speed’ and the same can be said for reach. Superior timing and punching effectively at angles can trump reach and speed as Danny Garcia showed against Amir Khan.
In 2012, Miguel Cotto, against Floyd Mayweather, showcased excellent timing as he was often able to sidestep Mayweather shots and land punches of his own and at angles where ‘Money May’ couldn’t effectively return fire. However, despite the impressive display of pugilism and a sweet jab, Cotto was still outworked by Floyd and dropped a unanimous decision as a result.
So what was missing from Cotto?s arsenal that night?
Aside from bloodying Mayweather?s nose and making his sensational opponent look human at times, Cotto failed to do considerable damage. He didn’t hurt Floyd enough to stymie the ‘Money Man’s’ offense.
Power In order for Cotto to defeat Martinez, the Puerto Rican will have to bring the “power stuff” because a boxing match clearly favors the speedier, rangier, more fleet-of-foot Martinez.
Cotto must make this fight a brawl.
Cornerman Duke said it best in Rocky Balboa, “Let’s start building some hurtin’ bombs.”
And Miguel must unleash ‘hurtin’ bombs’ and land shots with bad intentions as it’s difficult, although not impossible, to see him winning a decision without a few 10-8 rounds; especially if the naturally larger Martinez is healthy.
If the somewhat technical Miguel Cotto who fought Austin Trout and rematched Antonio Margarito shows up Saturday, Sergio Martinez will pick and peck all night and cruise to a points win, a la Austin Trout vs Cotto, if not a late stoppage.
Conversely, if the ‘seek and destroy’ version of Cotto we saw last fall against Delvin Rodriguez faces Martinez, things could get mighty interesting.
… But Delvin Rodriguez is no Sergio Martinez.
For Miguel Cotto, the smaller, seemingly slower fighter, timing and power will be abundantly critical ? And he must bring both on June 7 to have any chance of diminishing Martinez’s huge reach and speed advantages, and ability to fight well at angles.
