By Ted Sares:
He caught me with a punch I did not see.
—Paul Williams
I couldn’t see his left hand. I wasn’t hurting – he just hit me with a high volume of punches.
—Kelly Pavlik
I’m surprised a guy [Dzinziruk] with this kind of defense was on the ground five times.
Lou DiBella
At a time when most of us are just plain sick of all the ad nauseam talk surrounding the PEDS issue and the attendant testing controversy, a fighter from Argentina has come front and center and seems just the right antidote to get over our collective illness over Pac Man and Floyd exchanging excuses rather than exchanging.
Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez (47-2-2) is just what the doctor ordered. He fights like a prime Roy Jones, possesses incredible athleticism, is supremely confident, has incredible stamina likely from being a former cyclist and soccer player, seems to be at his prime even at age 36, has crunching power, and is super exciting to watch. He can take an opponent out with either hand and by going upstairs and downstairs. Some may well argue that “Maravilla” is the new Pound-4-Pound King in boxing. While I am not yet quite ready to say that, I do think the question is subject to reasonable debate. However, I am more than ready to have Martinez replace the inactive and troubled Floyd Mayweather Junior.
While Mayweather and Pacquiao do their own versions of cherry picking (one with opponents the other with time intervals between fights), Martinez fights young and dangerous boxers still in their prime. His opponents since early 2009 include Serhiy Dzinziruk (37-0 coming in) , Paul Williams (39-1 coming in ), Kelly Pavlik (36-1 at the time), Paul Williams (then 37-1), and Kermit Cintron (30-2 coming in). The MD loss against Williams was controversial to say the least. His only definitive loss was against Antonio Margarito (then 20-3) in 2000 but that was then and this is now. Tony has seen his best days while Sergio is seeing his.
In his tenth fight, “Maravilla fought an opponent with 30 bouts. Thereafter, most of his opponents were similarly experienced. In fact, he beat Ariel Chaves (38-4) in 1999, a year in which he had 10 fights. After being stooped in 7 to a young Margarito in 2000 in his first fight overseas, Martinez regrouped and won 28 straight before “drawing” with Cintron in one of the most controversial decisions in recent boxing history. In fact, Sergio arguably knocked out the ever-so-dramatic Kermit, but the referee missed it in plain sight. Along the way, Martinez retired tough Adrian Stone (33-4-2) in Bristol, UK in 2003, waxed Saul Roman (27-2) in an WBC Light Middleweight Title Eliminator in 2007in Texas, and then claimed the interim WBC Light Middleweight title in October 2008, beating Alex Bunema in California via an eighth round stoppage.
Perhaps the best tribute one can pay to this magnificent fighter is that when describing him, it’s not much different than describing a prime Manny Pacquiao.
Please vist the author’s website at www.tedsares.com and listen to the driving music while touring the photo galleries.