Sergio Martinez proved that he is, indeed, a maravilla, when he obliterated Paul Williams via electrifying knockout in less than two rounds last night before a crowd of over 5,000 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. The time of the stoppage was 1:10.
It was a surprising end to a bout many thought would be a bitterly contested struggle to the last bell. Instead, Martinez brought the house?as well as Williams?down with an unforgettable one-punch KO that was as beautiful as anything so disturbing had any right to be. With the win, Martinez reversed a close loss suffered to Williams last year, retained his middleweight championship, and roared into a spotlight few deserve as much as he does.
Williams is one of a handful of fighters out there willing to swap punches with anyone in the ring, but he saw his reputation take a hit by insisting on a catchweight for Martinez and by dawdling over the contract for what seemed to be an interminable amount of time. Once the opening bell rang, however, he stormed out to set a frenzied pace he hoped Martinez would not be able to match.
From behind a stiff jab, Williams dropped straight lefts and right hooks at Martinez willy-nilly. Martinez, 157.25, responded in kind, trying to catch Williams with counters from the outside, but Williams seemed less susceptible to right hooks than he did in the first match. When the two fighters clinched, Martinez toiled hard in close, throwing short shots to the belly and occasionally whacking Williams, 156, with blows to the side of the head. Martinez turned aggressive halfway through the round and backed Williams against the ropes with a quick flurry, landing two stiff lefts during the fiery exchange. But Williams, as usual undaunted, pressed forward for more.
A foreshadowing of the end occurred when, with about a minute remaining in the round, Williams reached with a sloppy lead left that saw him drop his right almost to his knees. He got away with it that time, but Martinez, who seems to be thinking at every moment in the ring, probably noted this gaff for future reference. In fact, Martinez, Oxnard, California, via Buenos Aires, actually appeared to be trying to draw lead lefts from Williams by feinting to his right throughout the first three minutes of the fight.
In the second, Williams, Augusta, Georgia, applied more pressure, but the number of clinches mounted early. Then, about a minute into the round, Williams advanced from a distance to lob a wide left that Martinez saw coming from two or three leagues away. Williams also had his right down by his waist. In an instant, Martinez whipped a crushing overhand left (beware of ?experts? who babble on about left hooks?actually, beware of ?experts? at all costs) that landed on the chin with a thud and sent Williams into an instantaneous free fall. He was out cold during his descent and crashed flat on his face, arms bent at angles by his side. There was no way Williams, with glazed over eyes, was going to beat the count, and Earl Morton appeared to abandon it in favor of summoning the ringside physicians.
Williams, now 39-2 (27), was on his feet after a few minutes, looking a little dazed, but cognizant. For ?The Punisher,? whose action style never really translated into stardom, the future may not be what it used to be. His solid chin was unable to overcome his shoddy defense last night, and there will be many questions about whether it?his jaw?will be able to do so again in subsequent fights. Rough trade for anyone who stands in the opposite corner, Williams has always been tenacious in the ring. Now we have to wait to see how resilient he is after a crushing defeat.
It was a stunning knockout and an equally stunning victory for a fighter, Martinez, whose exuberance in the ring is palpable. With a highlight reel win over a legitimate tough guy, Martinez, 46-2-2 (25), now has the chance to build on a bold style whose jitterbugging aspects, for one night, were tempered by something a little less dashing but no less thrilling: pure dynamite.
*****
