ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. ? This is how a man falls ? suddenly surrendering himself to gravity, quickly crashing to canvas, his bearings briefly settling him somewhere between pained and paralyzed.
This is how a man rises ? by making other men fall.
This is how it ended, with Paul Williams falling, rag dolled face-first in the center of the ring, his arms lying limply at his sides, his head turned to the left.
His eyes wide open.
This is how it begins, with Sergio Martinez rising to the top of a crowd within the ring, perched atop someone?s shoulders, a crown placed atop his head, blowing kisses to the fans with his still-gloved hands to his lips.
This was as much a crowning achievement as it was an ascension. Martinez is the middleweight champion. He is one of the best boxers in the sport.
He was once an unknown to the boxing world. That was as recently as two-and-a-half years ago.
On an evening in a Connecticut casino, before the arena filled and the cameras rolled, Martinez had battled with Archak TerMeliksetian, seven rounds of men exchanging bravado, machismo and punches.
Coincidentally, the broadcast that night featured Paul Williams? first-round stoppage of Carlos Quintana.
By that point, Williams had been featured on televised cards or pay-per-view shows for two years. He had received a title shot, won a belt, lost it and, with the victory over Quintana, regained it.
By that point, Martinez had toiled in obscurity for more than a decade.
Prior to 2007, Martinez had fought just once in the United States, losing in 2000 to what was then a welterweight prospect named Antonio Margarito. Martinez had, at the time, been a pro fighter for less than three years, and he?d taken up the sweet science later in life.
He?d have to learn on the job. And off the radar.
For the next seven years he?d fight in his native Argentina, in Spain, and in the United Kingdom. He?d return to the United States in ?07, the winner of 22 straight, a junior-middleweight who was rising in the WBC?s rankings of fighters but not in the Q-ratings measuring fame.
That?d change after the TerMeliksetian fight.
HBO spotlighted Martinez on an October 2008 broadcast, one in which Martinez landed 212 punches while his opponent, Alex Bunema, landed 31. Martinez was a flashy, skilled boxer. Beyond the trinket he?d earned with the win ? the WBC?s interim 154-pound belt ? he was worth seeing again.
Martinez was back on HBO in February 2009 for a bout with Kermit Cintron, one that Martinez essentially won twice, even though he left with a majority draw. What should have been ruled a knockout was not, and then two judges somehow saw Cintron winning rounds that, well, he didn?t.
Williams, meanwhile, was being positioned for a bout with then-middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik. When Pavlik?s health issues forced him to withdraw from that fight, Martinez stepped in to face Williams. The momentum swung throughout 12 rounds in a fight that was one of the best of that year. The scorecards could?ve gone either way. Williams got the decision.
But Williams balked at facing Pavlik in early 2010, unwilling to sign a contract without financial considerations in case Pavlik were to postpone or pull out of the fight again. Once again, Martinez stepped in, this time to face Pavlik.
Martinez won. He was the middleweight champion. Yet he still had to prove himself to be the best at 160, recognition that could come by beating Williams.
Two things can happen in a rematch of a great fight. Either both boxers, familiar with the danger his opponent poses, will fight more cautiously ? or both boxers, familiar with the danger he poses to his opponent, will pick up where he left off in the previous bout.
Martinez and Williams chose the latter option.
There would be no feeling out process. Williams threw the first shot, a southpaw right hook, coming forward aggressively behind jabs and hooks. Martinez backed up, evading shots, countering misses, and then stepping forward between Williams? lengthy arms to land punches to his body.
The inside was one place Martinez could choose to work against a man with Williams? wingspan. The other was far outside, out of reach. Williams moved forward, jabbing and following with left crosses, and Martinez retreated, setting up traps. When Williams punches, he punches low and long, leaning his head down and leaving himself open for hard counters over the top.
Martinez countered with left hands and right hooks. Williams kept coming, landing punches of his own as Martinez opened up, then digging in uppercuts from underneath when they clinched.
Each believed he had truly won their first fight. Each believed himself to be better and came out with confidence.
For Williams, that confidence took the form of activity and aggression against a strong counter-puncher. For Martinez, that confidence took the form of dropping his arms to his sides with 36 seconds still to go in the first round, doing so against a fighter who was capable of throwing 100 shots in a round and capable of using his lanky frame as a conduit for power punching.
Martinez countered Williams with left hand after left hand in the opening minute of the second round. Moments later, Martinez closed the show with that same punch.
He backed across the ring, drawing Williams forward. Nearing the ropes, he moved to his right, changing angles, then shuffled his feet quickly ? moving farther to the right and opening up the angle even wider. He was right in front of Williams, who was now basically squared up.
Williams threw a left. Martinez threw a left. Martinez?s left landed first. And hardest.
There is nothing more electric in boxing than a man?s lights being turned out.
The punch was heard before it was seen. The sound of the shot filled the arena. Then Williams began to fall, his body contorting as he surrendered to gravity.
The crowd reacted with a combination of shock and suspense. Williams couldn?t get up from a punch like that. They waited, though, as the referee counted to 10. Once he did, they roared.
Martinez ran back and forth as if he had just won the lottery. There was no luck in this, though. He had created his own opportunity, just as he had against TerMeliksetian, against Bunema, against Cintron, against Williams the first time, and then against Pavlik.
This is how a man rises. This was as much a crowning achievement as it was an ascension. His knockout punch left Williams with his eyes open from a shot Williams had never seen.
That punch left the world with its eyes open from a fighter they will want to see again.
The 10 Count
1. With one punch, Sergio Martinez:
– made Paul Williams look like a Stretch Armstrong being thrown off a balcony.
– put forth the strongest possible nominations for himself as Fighter of the Year and, for those of us who keep track of such things, Knockout of the Year.
– turned all attention and conversation away from Manny Pacquiao and Pacquiao?s win the previous week over Antonio Margarito.
– cemented himself as middleweight champion in a moment possibly even more exciting than when Kelly Pavlik knockout out Jermain Taylor. And, as a couple writers have pointed out in conversation, Martinez?s championship win (over Pavlik) and one title defense (against Martinez) have already made his middleweight reign more impressive than that of Pavlik.
2. May 15, 2004 ? Antonio Tarver knocks out Roy Jones Jr. in the second round with a single left hand.
May 2, 2009 ? Manny Pacquiao knocks out Ricky Hatton in the second round with a single left hand.
Nov. 20, 2010 ? Sergio Martinez knocks out Paul Williams in the second round with a single left hand.
3. What next for Martinez?
You won?t ? or shouldn?t ? see Martinez try his hand at super middleweight. Though he drops plenty of pounds to make 154 or 160, he?s still physically small compared to the bodies at 168.
But there ain?t much at 160. Dmitry Pirog is coming off his own sensational one-punch knockout of an Al Haymon-advised fighter (Danny Jacobs), but he does not yet have the necessary name value. Felix Sturm is a longtime middleweight beltholder who fights out of Germany, but he might instead be facing Kassim Ouma early next year.
There sure is little depth when it comes to star power at middleweight. That?s something that has plagued the division for years.
So what about opponents who?d come up from 154, perhaps at a catch-weight? Alfredo Angulo? Or a rematch with Kermit Cintron (who, like Martinez, is in Lou DiBella?s stable) to officially clear up the controversial draw from 2009?
And, of course, there?s always a rubber match with Williams.
4. Which, by all known logic, momentum and columnist voodoo, brings up Williams ? what next for him?
Williams wants another go at Martinez, wants to prove that he merely got caught with the perfect punch in the perfect place at the perfect time. But he?d also been looking to drop his extremely long, extremely lanky frame back down to the lower divisions where, despite his size, he truly belongs.
It?s doubtful we?ll ever see Manny Pacquiao face someone the size of Williams. And it isn?t likely we?ll see fighters advised by Al Haymon face each other ? so no Williams against Andre Berto or Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Could we see Williams against Shane Mosley? What about against Alfredo Angulo? How about a dark horse opponent, beltholder Cornelius Bundrage?
Or what about a rematch with Antonio Margarito?
5. Meanwhile, last week your friendly neighborhood ?Fighting Words? scribe suggested four potential comeback opponents for Antonio Margarito, forgetting about one very plausible option:
Retirement.
The punishment Margarito took against Pacquiao was bad enough ? he had to have surgery days later to repair a broken right orbital bone in his face.
But then there?s the punishment he took in a technical knockout loss to Shane Mosley. There?s the punishment he took in victory during a war with Miguel Cotto. There is the punishment from 43 other fights, numerous sparring sessions, countless training camps and nearly 17 years of professional pugilism.
It?s always hard to convince any athlete to call it a career at the right time. It?s probably the right time for Antonio Margarito.
6. While we?re busy pondering careers, let?s talk Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Mayweather supposedly got in trouble again last week for poking a security guard in the face after the security guard talked to him ?about a parking situation,? according to tabloid website TMZ.
The report says police came and spoke with Mayweather, and that since the alleged crime would only constitute misdemeanor battery, a report was taken and Mayweather was not arrested. The report would then be passed along to the prosecutor?s office for a decision.
I wish TMZ had listed something other than ?law enforcement sources.? There?s no meat to the story ? no copy of the police report, nothing.
Anyway.
What?s more certain is that Mayweather had a restraining order issued against him two weeks ago, keeping him away from his ex-girlfriend and his two sons with the woman, according to the Associated Press. The restraining order stems from the September incident that has landed Mayweather in court.
With all this going on in Mayweather?s personal life, should we really be pondering his professional life ? primarily a fight with Manny Pacquiao?
7. Two schools of thought:
No. 1: Mayweather should direct all of his energy to stabilizing a life that has seen him in the headlines lately for all the wrong reasons.
No. 2: Mayweather?s renowned for his focus on training and preparing for a fight. Perhaps signing for a bout would keep him away from whatever is leading to all these distractions and disturbances that have been popping up.
8. The legal system takes forever to work things out sometimes. Here?s a simple summary, then, of one case:
Shane Mosley gets implicated in the BALCO scandal and testifies before a grand jury.
Mosley says he unknowingly used performance-enhancing drugs.
BALCO founder Victor Conte says Mosley is lying, that knew the drugs he was using were illegal performance enhancers.
Mosley says Conte is lying and sues him for defamation.
And, as of last week, Mosley drops the defamation lawsuit and will not be able to bring it back before the court.
It?s damning enough when athletes decide not to fight such implications and allegations. It?s even more damning when an athlete vows to fight such implications and allegations and then, after making a public fuss, decides to privately relinquish the battle.
9. It?s damning, but it?s not surprising.
Why do so many athletes (and celebrities) choose to fight in the court of public opinion rater than in an actual courtroom?
Because suing someone means opening yourself up to answering all sorts of questions, under oath, in a legal deposition.
Mosley did just that in October 2009. Footage of that deposition was uploaded to YouTube earlier this year ? and that footage included Mosley admitting that he knew he was taking an endurance booster called EPO.
10. Roy Jones vs. Danny Santiago has been canceled? Evander Holyfield vs. Sherman Williams is off?
Be still my beating heart. I?d just gotten over Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr. not happening in 2010. But now this? This is too much?
David P. Greisman is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. His weekly column, ?Fighting Words,? appears every Monday on BoxingScene.com.
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