Sports

Martinez looks to get off on right foot vs. Cotto

Sergio Martinez was training recently in Miami when he offered an admirer the secret to his success in boxing. “Think with your feet,” he told the youngster. “The thing most fighters miss is how much of this game is mental and how much is foot work. Think with your feet.”

Martinez, a former soccer player in his native Argentina, has used his footwork to elude and deliver punches from all angles. It’s why his career blossomed even though he was 33 years old before anyone knew who he was. Now he has been the linear middleweight champion for four years and will defend the WBC belt Saturday night against Miguel Cotto at Madison Square Garden.

“I do all my work with my feet,” Martinez (51-2-2, 28 KOs) said on Wednesday.

But those feet and legs are 39 years old now and Martinez is coming off two knee surgeries, a painful rehab and a year-long absence from the ring. When the opening bell sounds for his HBO pay-per-view bout against Cotto at a sold-out Garden, Martinez might want to think with his feet. But how quickly will those feet react?

If Martinez has lost a step, if the surgeries and ring rust are enough to slow his reactions, it favors the popular Puerto Rican, who is looking to capture a world title in a fourth different weight class.

Martinez resists any notion he is damaged goods even though he’ll wear a sleeve over his right knee for support. The preventive measure was approved by the New York State Athletic Commission, which also requested Martinez undergo an MRI exam to his knees and left hand to inspect his past injuries. Martinez underwent the procedures three weeks ago, according to his promoters.

“I’m totally 100 percent healthy,” Martinez said through an interpreter. “I need to use it only for precaution. Not because I need it. I’m only using it on behalf of my doctor.”

Interest in Martinez’s health has dominated the promotion, with Cotto’s camp offering little sympathy. Their questioning of Martinez’s brace was to make sure there was no metal that might clash with Cotto’s knees.

“The sleeve is not going to help him,” Cotto’s trainer, Freddie Roach, said. “I have no problem with it.”

But Cotto (38-4, 31 KOs) does plan to test Martinez’s movement by forcing him to expend energy early, in hopes of slowing him down in the later rounds.

“Those injuries might show up in the fight,” Roach said.

Martinez has waited a career for this fight: a pay-per-view mega event in New York City. But the conditions aren’t ideal. He hasn’t fought since April 27, 2013, when he was dropped in the eighth round against Englishman Martin Murray in Argentina. In his prior bout, Martinez was dropped in the 12th round by Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. of Mexico and looked out on his feet as the fight ended with him getting a decision.

After the Murray fight, Martinez underwent knee surgery. He also suffered a broken left hand, and injured his shoulder. Fresh off his cast and crutches, he’s taking on Cotto, who will be fighting on the weekend of the Puerto Rican Day parade in an arena where he is 8-1.

“This was a long wait,” Martinez said. “You’re injured, and you can’t work out. You’re suffering. But everything is in the past and I’m looking forward to the fight.”

If Martinez still has his legs, he has a chance. Supremely confident in his footwork, he is known for dropping his hands and eluding punches, while punching back.

“This is the style that I’ve had since I was in the amateurs,” he said. “It’s what I have been doing over the last 17 years. I do all my work with my feet. And my hands are secondary. That will not change. “