SERGIO “Maravilla” MARTÍNEZ, along with promoter Lou DiBella, held an international media conference all earlier today in anticipation of his upcoming world title defense and the most eagerly anticipated boxing event of 2014 against three-division world champion and the Pride of Puerto Rico, MIGUEL COTTO.
Below are a few quick notes from the call. A complete transcript to follow.
SERGIO MARTINEZ: My knee is feeling great and I have been running in the mornings. I haven’t felt this good in a very long time.
I am the same as I was before there ever were any knee problems. I have overcome all of the obstacles and all of the problems my knee caused in the past.
There is no hatred toward Miguel, we are both professionals. I am totally focused on the fight and totally focused on the task at hand, which is beating Miguel Cotto.
Miguel does not have the same power at this weight as he does at 147lbs. I am the power-puncher out of the two of us. The most important factor in this fight, though, is the level of intelligence that I will use on June 7th.
I am not worried about the judges being swayed in this bout or any questionable decisions, because there is no way that this fight is going the distance.
This fight is right up there with Paul Williams and Kelly Pavlik as one of the most important of my career.
LOU DIBELLA: This was not an easy negotiation. We had to keep calling Sergio with constant changes that we had to make for this fight to happen, and it bothered Sergio. That came out in the initial press conferences, where everyone could see that Sergio was clearly agitated. Sergio has since channeled that to his benefit and he is now totally focused on the fight, and singled in on giving Cotto a real beating and walking out of Madison Square Garden on June 7th with his championship belt.
Sergio is a true professional so at this point in his training and this close to the fight, his only concentration is beating up Miguel Cotto.