By Paul Strauss: Watch a replay of the fight without sound and without listening to the announced results, and there’s a good chance you would feel the fight was a draw. Maybe you might be swayed a bit by “The Punisher’s” continual pressure and volume punching. But, then you watch it a second time and you are impressed with Sergio Martinez’s sharper more effective punching.
What a way to edge toward the end of a tremendous year of boxing. Most fans thought this was going to be an interesting fight and good match-up of styles. It’s doubtful anyone anticipated what a great fight this turned out to be.
The action at the Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall didn’t start out with a bang; rather it started out with two bangs. Suddenly it happened just when it appeared Martinez was managing the distance and staying elusive. He had Williams reaching and missing. Williams never minds that problem, and is always resigned to just stepping things up more to correct the problem.. He did just that in the first round when he threw a long left that glanced off of Martinez’s right shoulder and then hit his head. Down went Martinez, but in the replays it was apparent he was also a bit off balance. He quickly got up and did not appear seriously hurt. Martinez was more embarrassed than anything and proved he was not hurt by executing a great left lead feint that got Williams starting his own straight left, and then beating him to the punch flush with a right hook. Down went Williams and he did appear to be hurt. Martinez closed out the round with another good right hook.
In the second round, Martinez opened up with more good right hooks. Williams still seemed less than fully recuperated. He tried to be his usual aggressive self, but was wild. Martinez was also a little over eager and wild, but was still landing.
In the third round, Williams continued to be a sitting duck for Sergio’s right hook. Sergio had him timed, and would beat Williams to the punch. At this point, Williams has a little hitch in throwing the straight left, and Sergio would step inside and land the right hook. Against any fighter, a maneuver like that takes guts, but especially against a junior middleweight giant like Williams. Martinez also landed some big lefts in this round, and the damage, especially from the right hooks, was starting to show up on Williams’ face.
In the fourth round, there were many good exchanges, but Williams landed a big shot at the end of the round, which meant he probably deserved the round. The bleeding from a small cut on the left eyelid seemed to be under control.
Williams never let up with the pressure and volume punches. However, Sergio wasn’t backing down, and still seemed to be landing the sharper, crisper shots. He rocked Williams more than once. Martinez corner men cautioned him not to engage in exchanges with Williams. Rather, they wanted him to use his speed to catch Paul and then move.
One couldn’t help but think that when they announced the tale of the tape for these two fighters, in Williams’ case it should be the “fairy tale” of the tape, because he is so big. When he comes into the ring with his robe jacket on, he looks more like that guy from movie “The Green Mile” than he does a junior middleweight. The size difference presents all kinds of problems for Williams’ opponents, not the least of which is running into or colliding with his massive shoulders. It’s a safe bet that Sergio caught about as many shoulders as he did punches. It’s a physical disparity thing though, and not something that occurs because Williams is dirty.
By the sixth round, Martinez didn’t appear to be quite as sharp. Instead of being able to beat Williams to the punch, he was now relying more on his hoped for ability to counter with the right hook over Williams’ straight left. But, he was missing more than he was landing. Williams kept up the pressure, and Sergio wasn’t quite as elusive as he had been earlier.
In the seventh, Martinez changed tactics a bit and started throwing more lead straight lefts. First, in a matter of a few seconds, he landed a couple of good lefts to the head. Then, he threw straight lefts to the body, and once again beat Williams to the punch with his right hook. He again had Williams in a bit of trouble. At the end of the round as he was walking back to his corner, he nodded to his trainer to acknowledge that his instructions between rounds were working.
In the eighth round, Sergio again appeared to be somewhat tired. His punches were somewhat wild again, but both fighters were about even up in the numerous exchanges though. Harold Lederman’s unofficial scorecard had Williams slightly ahead at 86-85. The two hard straight lefts that Sergio landed early rocked Williams and probably should have carried the round for him.
At this point, announcer Jim Lampley offered his opinion that, “(This) Feels like an even fight!” It would have been hard to argue with him; although, in the tenth Williams was outworking Martinez, and Sergio appeared very tired when he got pushed to the canvas. He just wasn’t in any big hurry to get back up, but get up he did and both fighters continued to fight a tremendous battle.
A common refrain by Manny Steward, JIm Lampley and Max Kellerman was, “How would you score that round?” That comment was symbolic of the closeness of many of the rounds, and also the fact that both fighters never backed down. Just when one would land a good shot, the other one would surge back, seemingly to say, “Oh, yea, well take that!”
The fight was so close that you could argue either man edged out the other. Judge Julie Lederman thought so and scored the fight even at 114-114. Lynne Carter too had a realistic score of 115-113 in favor of Williams. It could have been just as easily the other way in favor of Sergio. However, the night was spoiled when Pierre Benoit’s scorecard was announced………119-110? What that hell fight was Benoit watching! Max Kellerman called Benoit’s scoring disgraceful, and characterized it as being right up there with the Funeka and Malignaggi thefts.
In the post fight interviews with Max, both fighters expressed a desire to have a rematch. They both complimented each other’s courage and abilities. Martinez undoubtedly acquired some new admirers. Manny Steward offered that this type of tremendous fight probably took a lot out of each man, and neither might be the same as a result. Let’s hope he’s wrong.
In the undercard, Chris Arreola once again proved he is not willing to make the necessary sacrifices boxing requires to truly be a top notch fighter. He admittedly had gone into the Vitali Klittschko fight in less than great shape. He was visibly flabby. There was no lesson learned though, because for tonight’s fight he weighed 12 lbs. more than he did for Vitali. He is in big time detail, thinking, “I’ve worked my ass off!” He apparently doesn’t know what dedication really means. Pretty soon they’re going slap a “Wide Load” sticker across his butt.
He also demonstrated his failure to learn another lesson by being careful about the language on air. He spewed out several curse words when trying to excuse his poor conditioning by saying, “You can’t measure that ……the sparring, gym work (and so forth)”. Well, maybe he should try measuring it on something they call a scale! He admitted that when training, he gets hungry, and there is a restaurant close by that is open 24hrs! When they announce him as a heavyweight, they definitely should be emphasizing the word “heavy”.
In the fight itself, he had a decidedly big (literally) advantage against the much smaller Brian Minto, but Minto didn’t lack heart for his smaller size. He managed to land some pretty good shots on Chris, and brought some excitement to the crowd.
Minto’s big heart and courage kept him upright until the fourth round, when as Max Kellerman said, “He was saved from himself!” The referee called a halt to the action at 2:40 of the round.
Chris will continue to be an exciting fighter, but there’s little chance that he will be any better than he already is unless he takes his career more seriously. He has to quit the BS about “…..working my ass off!” If that were true, why is his ass getting bigger?