Chavez Jr. vs. Martinez

By Emilio Camacho, Esq. In life, some people have it better than others. For various reasons, not everyone has the same opportunities and access to resources. In this respect boxing is no different.

In boxing, having the right equipment, training facilities, nutrition, sparring partners, and money to cover personal expenses while training, can make a big difference in the performance of an athlete. This is an aspect of a boxer’s performance that is not readily apparent during the match.

On the one hand, Sergio Martinez represents one aspect of this idea. Martinez has stated that, in the year 2000, after paying all expenses, he made about $900 for fighting Antonio Margarito. Martinez was already in his third year as a professional boxer. He has often recounted how difficult it was to live and train with such a low budget while trying to compete at a world-class level. To this extent, it is remarkable that he has been able to reach the highest level of the sport. Today, Martinez is able to afford high-level training camps, nutritionists, quality sparring partners, and even a personal tailor to promote his image. In short, Martinez made it to the highest level under significant adverse conditions that often break the boxing career of many others.

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By Marcus Richardson: Sergio Martinez (50-2-2, 28 KO’s) was forced to fight that last eight rounds of his bout with WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (46-1-1, 32 KO’s) with a broken left hand last Saturday night at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Fighting with mostly just his right hand, Martinez was still able to pound out a relatively easy 12 round unanimous decision by the scores 117-110, 118-109, 118-109.

Martinez’s trainer Pablo Sarmiento said to ESPN “I’d offer credit for not showing that he [Martinez] was compromised [injured] during the tussle. He suffered a broken left hand in round four.”

For boxing fans who don’t know already, Martinez is left-handed and his left is his bread and butter punch that he uses to knockout most of his opponents. With his left hand badly broken, Martinez was unable to get maximum power on his left hand power shots the way he wanted to against Chavez Jr.

With how easy it was for Chavez Jr. to be hit last Saturday it’s scary to imagine what Martinez would have been able to do to him had he had two good hands instead of just his right. This is why Martinez was forced to jab Chavez Jr. so often in the fight because his left hand was out of commission in terms of power punching.

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By Michael Collins: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is considering a rematch between his popular fighter Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (46-1-1, 32 KO’s) and newly crowned WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (50-2-2, 28 KO’s) at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. However, if the rematch comes off it will likely have to wait until 2013, because Martinez suffered a cut over his left eye that required 8 stitches to close as well as possible torn ligaments in his right knee after falling to the canvas after getting knocked down by Chavez Jr. in the 12th. The torn ligaments may require surgery to heal. The rehabilitation will almost surely keep Martinez out of action for the remainder of 2013.

Martinez and his promoter Lou Dibella are both understandably eager to face Chavez Jr. again. Martinez received $1.4 million for the fight, and he’ll likely get a nice extra chunk of cash on the pay per view upside. A rematch in Texas would likely mean another nice payday for Martinez, although it’s hard to understand why boxing fans would want to pay to see Martinez add Chavez Jr. fight again after last night.

It was completely one-sided until the 12th round when Chavez Jr. was able to hurt Martinez with a right hand and then put him down with a left. Chavez Jr. couldn’t finish the job, however, and actually ended up taking more shots than he was landing after he had Martinez hurt. That was the sad part. Even with Martinez hurt, he was still able to out-land Chavez Jr.

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