Thursday night on HBO, 24/7 Cotto vs. Martinez episode 2 made its debut. The second episode of the show brings us fully up to speed just days in advance of Saturday night’s middleweight championship fight at Madison Square Garden, Miguel Cotto vs. Sergio Martinez. Check out the full recap of Cotto vs. Martinez 24/7 episode 2 right here.
Martinez vs. Cotto 24/7 episode 2 begins with Miguel Cotto arriving in New York City and talking about MSG, the world’s most famous arena. Cotto says there’s no better place for him to fight, and indeed he’s had some of his best moments there, fighting there 8 times. Freddie Roach talks about how New York is such a great fight town, even more than Las Vegas.
Maravilla is very happy to be fighting in New York as well, though. He knows he’s going up against Cotto and his fans, but that doesn’t bother him. He also knows there will be plenty of Argentinean fans in the house as well. It’s fight week in NYC, as 24-7 Cotto vs. Martinez episode 2 kicks off.
Once in New York, Martinez is walking around the streets and enjoying some meet and greets with fans. Meanwhile, Cotto and his team are watching 24/7 Cotto vs. Martinez episode 1. They certainly aren’t impressed with Pablo Sarmiento’s talk, and they take note of Martinez’s knee brace and believe it could indicate he’s injured.
Roach and his assistant Marvin Somodio head out of the hotel and walk towards Central Park. Marvin needs to be interested to NYC lifestyle a bit, so he gets a street vendor hot dog, rides in a horse carriage and does some other touristy stuff.
It’s Monday morning, and Martinez and his team ride on over to the Empire State Building. This isn’t just for tourism, it’s for a photo shoot at the top of building with Martinez and Cotto. It’s the first time the fighters have been face to face since the opening press conference.
Then that knee brace, which has been a topic all week, gets brought up against at Martinez’s workout. That day though, New York’s commission rules that Martinez can’t wear his knee brace. Promoter Lou DiBella is incensed, and plans to fight the ruling (they eventually get the go ahead to wear the brace).
Cotto takes part in a private workout at the Trinity Boxing Club in Manhattan and hangs out with some members of the Wounded Warriors. Cotto talks about how meaningful that is for him, as we see footage of Cotto hitting the mitts with Freddie and going through the rest of his session.
Next, Cotto’s children and wife show up at the hotel. It’s the first time he’s seen everyone in a month and a half. Roach is happy with it, despite the fact that he usually tells “girls and families to stay the fuck out” but he sees this is a good situation for Cotto.
In the morning, we see Martinez getting in a training session and talking about how big this fight is, going up against Cotto at Madison Square Garden and in front of the whole world. It’s a huge event, of course. Martinez also has his physical therapist Raquel Bordons with him, and she’s a full-fledged member of the team.
Martinez talks about how important she is and how much she has helped him and his body, particularly through the injuries. Maravilla then gets the news that he will indeed be allowed to wear his knee brace. But he and his team are already confident of his abilities and his body. He also believes he has been perfectly peaking and perfecting himself. The cameras are then shooed away as Martinez and Sarmiento go over some specifics on their strategy and game plan.
Then, it’s Cotto’s official media workout, in Hoboken, New Jersey. He’s feeling good, and Roach is feeling in the routine of fight week.
Roach can’t give Martinez credit for anything but being a good athlete, though. He says Martinez is a great athlete, but not boxer, and that he won’t last 4 rounds. Roach is ready to send Martinez back to the soccer field. Cotto keeps himself at a quiet cool, while Roach has been doing the trash-talking. Cotto is just very comfortable with what he needs to do, and he’s ready with the plan, knowing without a doubt he’ll be the winner.
Sarmiento fires back with his own shots. He says Roach had his chance with Chavez, and it didn’t happen. Martinez just says that Roach is wrong, and that he’ll defeat one of his fighters again. Martinez says it’ll be a great cyclist and athlete and soccer player that does it, too. He knows the sacrifice and work he has put in over two decades, and that’s what he believes define him.
We hear about how Cotto and Martinez are similar in many ways, how much they have dedicated their lives to this, and how much it means to them. They aren’t ordinary men, of course. They are extraordinary, and put themselves through a unique ordeal of punishment and sacrifice.
We hear some quick quotes from each fighter, trainer and promoter, talking about the fight and the event, getting one last message in. The Cotto vs. Martinez final press conference ends, and so does the episode. We’re now just two nights away from fight night!
Be sure to hang out with us all night this Saturday, where we’ll be live ringside with our Cotto vs. Martinez round by round results. Tomorrow we’ll have all the weigh-in updates and other news for you, too. Thanks for checking out our coverage of 24/7 Cotto-Martinez episode 2!
