Glen Tapia, a junior middleweight from Passiac, NJ, was in the middle of the ring working with trainer Freddie Roach Tuesday afternoon when Miguel Cotto motioned from ringside to come over.
Cotto, a three-division world champion from Puerto Rico, was getting his hands wrapped for his media workout but wanted to give Tapia a quick tip. Minutes later, with gloves on, Cotto bounced into the ring and went straight to Tapia, getting his attention on how to execute a body shot in the midst of battle.
A packed and sweaty Everlast Gym in Hoboken watched as Cotto, turned teacher, bent low and mimicked a punch to the ribs that hurt just to watch.
“That’s how you go to the body without getting countered,” Roach would say later. “That’s what he’s going to use against Sergio Martinez.”
The body shot could be the prominent punch Saturday night at Madison Square Garden where Cotto (39-4, 31 KOs) challenges Martinez (51-2-2, 28 KOs) in an HBO pay-per-view bout for the WBC middleweight championship. A limited number of tickets remain. Roach, the decorated trainer of Manny Pacquiao and others, wasn’t so subtle about how he plans to break down Martinez, who hasn’t fought in over a year and is coming off knee surgery. In a nutshell, the game plan is simple. Wait until Martinez’s legs tire; cut off the ring, do damage to the body, go for the knockout. It’s a game plan straight out of Eddie Futch, Roach’s mentor.
This will be the first middleweight bout for Cotto, who is hoping to become the first boxer from Puerto Rico to win a world title in four different weight divisions. It’s an accomplishment that would set him apart from past Puerto Rican greats including Felix Trinidad, who will be inducted to the International Boxing Hall of Fame on Sunday alongside Oscar De La Hoya and Joe Calzaghe. There was a time when Cotto’s popularity in Puerto Rico paled in comparison to Trinidad’s. But it’s Cotto who has become the Garden’s biggest boxing ticket seller and again will sell out the Mecca on a weekend of the Puerto Rican Day Parade.
“I’m comfortable. I’m ready,” Cotto said after a two-hour workout. “I’m looking forward to this fight. Freddie has made a marvelous plan for this fight. All I need to do is follow it.”
Martinez is regarded the better athlete, having played soccer and other sports in his native Argentina. But he has been hampered by numerous injuries over the last two years and underwent knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus. That could prove problematic for a boxer who has used his athleticism and unconventional style to disarm his opponents. Whether he is damaged goods won’t be known until he gets in the ring with Cotto, who is hoping to use the ring command he learned under Roach’s tutelage. If Martinez’s body isn’t right, he may not be able to get away with things like fighting with his hands down.
“Martinez is a great athlete, but he’s not a great boxer,” Roach said. “Anyone who puts their hands down that low and thinks they’re going to have a good defense in that position is crazy. He says he sees better. Well we see him better, too. I think we’re going to expose him in this fight.”
Cotto isn’t making much of all the talk about Martinez’s injuries.
“He signed for the fight several months ago,” Cotto said. “It’s up to him to be ready.”