Photo via Boxing Pulse

HBO Sports’ YouTube channel has put up a nearly 30 minute long Cotto vs Martinez preview, which you can watch below.

You won’t get all the usual slickness production-wise on this video preview, but there is some excellent footage, including a young Antonio Margarito beating a young Sergio Martinez.

This is actually very similar to the UFC previews in that there’s a lot of media/talking heads (including Steve Kim) who I’m sure had a lot more to say than just the soundbites that are used. Sometimes when this happens, they look very much like a shill for the promotion.

But really, how hard is it not to be a shill for this fight?

What I like best about it is that there’s a lot of older fight footage that you haven’t seen in a while, building up to where we stand. For Miguel Cotto, his biggest losses to Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather aren’t really mentioned, but his poetic revenge on Antonio Margarito is.

Both Paul Williams fights are shown when it comes to Sergio Martinez, including the vicious knockout in fight number two. His fight with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. is also shown, but mostly the last round in which he went down and was nearly put away.

I’d say there’s a slight Cotto bias, but there’s a good amount of stuff on each guy. It’s not flashy. It’s not 24/7. But it was an effective way to remember how we got here.