Martinez has always been a sucker for the left hook

That's not what I saw from the majority. What I saw was most people saying Cotto was too small, Martinez was too powerful, Sergio's movement and speed would be too much, Martinez is a bigger version of Pacquiao and stuff like that. A lot of people would have picked a prime Martinez over a prime Cotto so that shows they were not just basing it on Cotto being on the decline.

Who would you have picked if neither fighter looked on the decline?

 

Martinez..I would have based it on how well he's performed against elite fighters..

 

Yep. Everyone was citing the size difference and Martinez's supposed huge power advantage.

 

What elite fighters? :rofl

 

I was referring to Cotto
Mayweather ,Pacquio ,even scraped by Mosley

 

o ok my bad lol

 

All good

 

I agree with the sentiments from the OP but have to disagree with the labelling of Martinez' lead hand position as lazy.

Holding your hand low offers many advantages, advantages in Martinez' case that made him the fighter he is. Its a stylistic choice based on athletic ability, its certainly not laziness - not in this case anyway.