New York, NY (5/17/12) – It has been exactly two months since Middleweight kingpin Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez defended his crown against Matthew Macklin on St. Patrick’s Day, scoring a thrilling 11th-round TKO over the Irishman before a raucous sold-out crowd at the Theater at Madison Square Garden in easily one of the most entertaining fights shown live on HBO in 2012. Martinez now awaits the upcoming World Boxing Council (WBC) Middleweight Championship bout between Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Andy Lee, which will take place on June 16, in Laredo, TX, to see who he will face next. While he waits, Martinez has kept himself extremely busy, especially in his native country of Argentina, where his popularity continues to soar to super stardom levels. Most recently, Martinez was asked to participate in the upcoming season of Bailando por un Sueño, which is Argentina’s version of “Dancing with the Stars” and considered the most popular television program in the entire country. Last year, Mike Tyson was one of the contestants on the show.
When Martinez was recently interviewed by renowned television host Alejandro Fantino on “Animales Sueltos,” the show received a monster 6.7 rating. Martinez discussed a number of topics during the roughly 40-minute long interview (to watch the video, click here).
Next up for the charismatic Martinez was an appearance on the stand-up comedy show, Duro de Domar, hosted by Daniel Tognetti. (Click here to view Sergio’s stand-up performance). Martinez showed a side of himself with which not many outside of his inner circle are familiar. From the reaction of performance though, you can be assured that it will not be the last time anyone has seen “Maravilla” the comedian.
Martinez was also recently named an honorary member of Arengtina’s premier soccer club River Plate (to watch video Click Here). The stadium in which River Plate plays is commonly referred to as El Monumental and is considered to be the national stadium of Argentina. Political officials from Argentina have expressed serious interest in staging one of Martinez’ future fights in the stadium.
“Its very humbling to be appreciated by my fellow countrymen and to be recognized after so many hard years of hard work and dedicating myself to the sport of boxing,” said Martinez. “Hopefully with my new found fame I can continue to bring awareness to those in need and the less fortunate.”
“Five years ago I knew that I had found something very special,” said Sampson Lewkowicz, advisor of Martinez. “I knew that I had an exciting new fighter for HBO and a fighter that could make sound waves throughout the boxing industry. Sergio has become the superstar that I knew he would, and the magnitude of the response during his welcome home tour proves that. Sergio is not only hands down the most popular fighter, but one of the most well-known and recognizable sport figures in the entire country of Argentina.”
“With his recent performances in and out of the ring, Sergio is quickly becoming a phenomenon in Argentina,” said promoter Lou DiBella. “As more and more people get to know him, his popularity will continue to spread not just in his home country of Argentina and his adopted home of the U.S. but begin reaching worldwide magnitude.”
IABA UPDATE (7th AIBA WORLD WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIPS SEMI-FINALS)
Irish Amateur Boxing Association
Ireland’s Katie Taylor, Tajikistan’s Mavzuna Chorieva, Russia’s Sofya Ochigava and England’s Natasha Jonas have all secured Olympic qualification and guaranteed themselves at least bronze from the 7th AIBA World Women’s Championships in China.
However, it would be safe to assume that none of the above quartet will be content with a top-four finish and a ticket for the 30th Olympiad at the Olympic Stadium in Qinhuangdao.
All four will be between the ropes in Friday’s AIBA lightweight semi-finals.
http://88.85.4.2/results-draw-sheet06060_E.html
Taylor, who is aiming for her fourth AIBA World lightweight title on-the-trot in China, meets Chorieva in the first of the last-four showdowns.
Ochigava and Jonas clash in the corresponding semi-final.
Chorieva, the current Tajik national champion, claimed silver at the 2012 Asian Championships.
She also beat China’s Dong Cheng – who Taylor beat in the last two AIBA World finals – en route to gold at the 2010 Asian Championships in Kazakhstan.
At the 2010 AIBA World Women’s Championships in Barbados – where Taylor claimed her third World title – Chorieva was only edged out on a countback by Queen Underwood (USA) following a 7-7 tie.
Ochigava has won World titles at flyweight and bantamweight but has since moved up to lightweight.
Ochigava and Jonas – who were beaten by Taylor in the 2011 European final (10-5) and Strandja Multi-Nations (6-3) – also recorded wins over Deng, who was seeded number 3 in Qinhuangdao.
Liverpool-born Jonas, meantime, beat India’s Laishram, who beat Turkish number two seed Gulsum Tatar this week, on her way to Friday’s meeting with Ochigava.
It’s all to play for tomorrow and RTE are planning to broadcast the semi-finals live from Qinhuangdao at 8am on Friday.
Presenter Darragh Maloney will be joined in studio by Bernard Dunne and Mick Dowling for analysis of all the action with Jimmy Magee providing the commentary.
If Taylor progresses to the finals, RTÉ Television will also broadcast a further programme on Saturday morning on RTÉ Two and streamed live on RTÉ.ie.
Friday’s semi-finals will also be streamed live on http://www.aiba.org/
Saturday’s finals begin at 2pm local time (7am Irish time).
The Irish squad are due to arrive home from China at 5.35pm on Sunday via Dublin Airport.
7th AIBA World Women’s Championships Qinhuangdao, China
(Afternoon sessions begin at 2pm local time, 7am Irish time)
May 12th
51kg (Last 64)Ceire Smith (Ireland) beat Veglina Svetlana (Tajikistan) RSC3
75kg (Last 64) Sinead Kavanagh (Ireland) lost to Francelis Paez Carmona (Venezuela) 19-23
May 13th
51kg (Last 32) Ceire Smith (Ireland) beat Sarah-Joy Iris Rae (Jamaica) 12-4
May 14th
60Kg (Last 32) Katie Taylor (Ireland) beat Rim Jouini (Tunisia) 19-6
May 15th
51kg (Last 16) Ceire Smith (Ireland) lost to Anna Karolina Michalczuk (Poland) RSC3
60kg (Last 16) Katie Taylor (Ireland) beat Saida Khassenova (Kazakhstan) RSC4
May 16th
60kg (Quarter-finals) Katie Taylor (Ireland) beat Mihaela Lacatus (Romania) W/O
May 18th
(Semi-finals – Afternoon)
60kg Katie Taylor (Ireland) v Mavzuna Chorieva (Tajikistan)
60kg Sofya Ochigava (Russia) v Natasha Jonas (England)
Irish squad
51kg (Flyweight) Ceire Smith (Cavan)
60kg (Lightweight) Katie Taylor (Bray)
75kg (Middleweight) Sinead Kavanagh (Drimnagh)
Team manager: Anna Moore
Coaches: Peter Taylor and Zuar Antia
Physio: Mary Louis Ryan