There is no denying the impression made in recent years by Argentinean strongman Sergio ‘Maravilla’ Martinez. Once an unknown commodity fighting on off-TV undercards in all parts of Spain as well as in the United Kingdom, Connecticut, and Las Vegas, Martinez has firmly established himself as the world’s best middleweight as well as one of the game’s top fighters, pound for pound.
But at 36 years old, the time is now for Martinez, who has been desperately craving a super fight in this often unforgiving sport of ours. And that’s why it was a bit frustrating upon finding out that he recently agreed to an October 1st showdown with unbeaten Euro champion Darren Barker, who is more of an enigma than a proven commodity.
Martinez has been criticized by some members of the press for calling out smaller fighters such as Floyd Mayweather Jr., Manny Pacquiao, and Miguel Cotto while never showing a willingness to move up in weight against the likes of Andre Ward, Lucian Bute, or Bernard Hopkins. Instead he falls somewhere in between with a fight against Barker and perhaps we can only cross our fingers and hope he rings up a big name in 2012.
Martinez’s promoter Lou Dibella, who recently resigned the fighter to a new promotional contract, made offers to titleholders Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., Daniel Geale, Miguel Cotto as well as the likes of Andy Lee and Paul Williams, who defeated Martinez via majority decision in December of 2009 while being blown away in two rounds himself in their rematch last November. Hearing Dibella tell it, his fighter was more than willing to face any of the above mentioned names.
“Sergio would have fought any of them,” Dibella said in an interview with ESPN’s Dan Rafael. “But people are turning him down left an right, but Barker is a guy who wanted this fight.”
One fight that has always intrigued me for various reasons was a Martinez-Cotto scrap. Cotto seemed to be on his last legs in suffering a resounding late-round TKO to Manny Pacquiao inside of the MGM Grand in November of 2009 but a move up to the junior middleweight class and a newfound union with trainer Emanuel Steward has paid dividends in the form of a title-winning stoppage over Yuri Foreman and thrashing of Ricardo Mayorga in March.
A few weeks after Martinez’s thrilling knockout over Williams, I caught up with his advisor Sampson Lewkowicz to get a gauge on his future at the time. The sharp-spoken Uruguayan confirmed that he had met with Top Rank promoter Bob Arum in his Las Vegas offices and that a possible Martinez-Cotto bout was being kicked around.
It is a fight Martinez would have welcomed with open arms but in assessing the importance of his fight with Barker you can tell how much resentment he has towards the Puerto Rican for looking at other options.
“One thing you can’t take away from Barker is he has the courage to face the best,” Martinez said. “He has the courage to face the best more than Cotto or Chavez. He has more courage than them. I am fighting an undefeated fighter. As I have always said, I am ready for anyone. Nobody else took a step forward to make this fight, but Barker did. I am very disappointed in Cotto. He has no balls to face me.”
Martinez is a bit bitter but Cotto is one of the last people who should be called a coward. Instead he is focusing on getting some revenge against Antonio Margarito, the first man to defeat him in the summer of 2008. As initially reported by my colleague Michael Marley, the two seem headed for a collision course this December at Madison Square Garden.
As for Martinez, all he has to do is keep on winning and the big fights will surely come his way.
Chris Robinson is based out of Las Vegas, Nevada. He can be reached at [email protected]
