By now the boxing world has had a few days to digest what was the destruction of Antonio Margarito at the hands of Manny Pacquiao. After such a masterful performance there hasn?t been a shortage of boxing pundits, fans and boxing figures who have showered the Filipino with praises for his new victory. Among them you can add the WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez who I contacted shortly after the fight.
?The fight was a lot more one sided then I imagined it would be,? Martinez would tell BoxeoMundial shortly after the one sided beat down of Margarito ended. ?I imagined that Pacquiao could connect at a proportion of 4 to 1, but what I could not imagine was the amount of damage he would inflict. I was feeling sorry for Margarito by the end of the fight. I was very sad that they allowed Margarito to continue even after he was not in condition to do so and Manny once again showed how great he is. I think Manny Pacquiao punished Margarito more then all of his previous opponents. It?s incredible to see how Pacquiao has continued to climb as a boxer; it?s amazing to see the power that he has. He has reached the highest level and he deserves to be there because he has done an incredible job.?
During the PPV telecast Max Kellerman, who provides commentary for HBO, questioned whether Manny might have slowed down a bit. However, in Sergio?s eyes Manny is still fighting as good as ever.
?Personally I think he (Pacquiao) is in his best moment. I don?t see an end to Manny Pacquiao yet. As a matter of fact I believe he could beat Floyd Mayweather because he is a better boxer and is as fast or faster then Floyd. It?s going to be very difficult to see another fighter with the combination of quickness, precision and power that Manny Pacquiao fights with. I believe he is at his peak right now. I don?t for how much longer he will fight at this level, but I see very few people that can beat him or give a competitive fight with him.?
Like most of the boxing world, Sergio is also looking forward to a Pacquiao – Mayweather bout and remains hopeful that after witnessing another Pacquiao win Mayweather will get the urge to prove he is still the best and get in the ring with the Filipino super star.
?I hope so, because it?s fight that would be beneficial to boxing. It?s a fight the public wants to see and it?s a fight that Mayweather actually needs, no? If Mayweather wants to be remembered as the best ten-fifteen years from now he will need to fight Manny Pacquiao who is as good or better then him. I would say that right now Pacquiao is better than him due to his greater activity inside the ring. I think the fight will be made for the benefit of them both and the boxing world as a whole.?
Sergio has his own challenge this coming week when he rematches Paul The Punisher Williams on a telecast to be shown on HBO. We asked him whether he thought Manny could possibly make a climb up once again and face the winner of his bout, but Martinez felt it would be insurmountable task even for the modern day David the Giant slayer, to make that move.
?I believe that dude to his physical make up he has reached his limit. I think to go up even more would be difficult for him. Maybe he could challenge Paul Williams, because he (Williams) could go down to the welter, but me personally I don?t think I could ever fight him because I could never go down below 154 and he can?t go up above the 140s. Even though in boxing you never know.?
To read more about Sergio Martinez speaking about his own fight with Paul Williams this coming Saturday follow this link to our previous story the Argentinean champion
?I WILL KNOCK HIM OUT BY THE 9TH. I DON?T THINK IT WILL REACH THE 9TH ROUND? ? SERGIO MARAVILLA MARTINEZ
And don?t forget to tune in HBO’s World Championship Boxing beginning at 10:00 PM ET/7:00 PM PT as Sergio ‘Maravilla’ Mart?nez will defends his title against 3-Time World Champion Paul “The Punisher” Williams.
