RingSide Report

World News, Social Issues, Politics, Entertainment and Sports

Sergio Martinez: Avoided by Miguel Cotto and Bob Arum

By Joe Wilson

According to the latest news, what we thought was going to be a big middleweight title showdown between Miguel Cotto 35-2, 28 KO’s, and Sergio Martinez 45-2-2, 25 KO’s, is no longer in talks. Martinez promoter Lou DiBella had been in negotiations with Cotto’s promoter Bob Arum, but negotiations fell through this week. The two promoters could not come to an agreement on the purse.

Bob Arum was only interested in a deal where his company, Top Rank, was the sole promoter and he was not interested in a deal that split up revenue based on the pay per view percentages. According to DiBella, Arum offered him $2.5 million dollars against an upside of pay per view profits to buy him out of the deal. DiBella countered with a $5 million dollar offer against an upside of pay per view profits to buy Arum out.

According to Lou DiBella, Bob did not want to do a co-promotion. He said he talked to Martinez and his advisor Sampson Lewkowicz and they both said they would only fight Cotto, if he [DiBella] was their promoter. This match up had all the necessary ingredients to be a great fight! Miguel Cotto hired Hall of Fame trainer Emanuel Steward back in the early part of this year when he faced Yuri Foreman back in June. Cotto showed superb boxing skills with good footwork over his victory against Foreman by a ninth round stoppage.

Sergio Martinez and how he fights, has captured the heart of boxing fans all over. He is everything you want in a boxer. He can stick and move, he can dance and he can slug when necessary. His conditioning is superb. I don’t think there are very many options out there for him, because of his one-sided victory over Kelly “The Ghost” Pavlik back in April. Then, just recently, he knocked out Paul “The Punisher” Williams in the second round. That was a devastating one punch knockout.

Before that fight, Williams was feared by many and had a hard time finding fighters who would step in the ring with him.

It seems the knockout over Williams will definitely get him “Fighter of Year” award for 2010. DiBella feels that Cotto will more than likely move on to a rematch with Antonio Margarito. Arum has already told sources that he plan to develop an unofficial junior middleweight tournament with fighters fighting under Top Rank umbrella.

Arum has already proposed matching the winner of Cotto vs. Margarito against the winner of Yuri Foreman vs. Julio Chavez, JR. DiBella is still trying to figure out why Cotto would even be willing to step in the ring with Margarito, who was caught using loaded gloves against the fight with Shane Mosley and could have easily used the same bricks during the savage beating he gave Cotto in the later rounds of their bout.

DiBella also mentioned that if Cotto fought Martinez he would still hold on to his 154-pound belt even if he lost. It would be a no lose opportunity for Miguel Cotto.
Martinez options are very limited without the Cotto fight. He is feared by many boxers right now. The same thing happened to Shane Mosley after he demolished Antonio Margarito nearly two years ago.

Knockouts like those puts fear in the competition. “Who wants to get in the ring and battle with guys who come off those kinds of fights?” DiBella says he will look at Sebastain Zbik, the interim WBC title holder and Martinez mandatory challenger, and Andy Lee, a popular middleweight prospect, trained by Emanuel Steward.

It’s already been said the advisor Sampson Lewkowicz is considering a March 12 bout for the Argentinian-born Martinez against Zbik of Germany or Lee of Detroit. Arum said the only way Cotto vs. Martinez comes back alive is if Lewkowicz takes a different stand from DiBella.

Arum says he is not blaming DiBella for the fight not happening, but when dealing with him–he gets nowhere. The good thing Cotto has going for him is, he has options. Arum gets to call the shots all the way round. Arum has already pointed out that Martinez has no pay per view presence. He has never headlined on pay per view before.

Miguel Cotto has a huge following on pay per view, said Arum. Top Rank is just like a wealthy individual cornering the gold and silver market. Bob Arum has played a brilliant game of chess with this sport. Golden Boy Promotions is his only true competition when it comes to promoting, but Arum is looking at them from his rear view mirror and steady pulling away!

With Shane Mosley stepping aside from Golden Boy Promotions and going his own way, leaves Oscar De La Hoya wondering what happened? They will definitely feel the impact of him leaving in the back pocket. If Mosley closes the deal with Manny Pacquiao, that would be a devastating blow to Golden Boy Promotions.

DiBella said the only way he would accept a buyout of promotions is if Sergio Martinez was fighting Manny Pacquiao. Frustration is starting to tick other promoters off as well who promote good fighters. The grip Bob Arum and his company Top Rank have on the sport of boxing has really made the environment tough.

Advertise Now On RSR

Purchase Boxing Interviews Of A Lifetime

Leave a Reply