On Saturday, Sergio Martinez retained his WBC ?Diamond? Middleweight belt with an 11-round KO victory over British challenger Darren Barker. The question is: was this victory enough to edge Martinez past Floyd Mayweather Jr. for the No. 2 slot on the pound-for-pound list? (Manny Pacquiao is No. 1.) Martinez?s knockout was, after all, a clean 10-count as opposed to Mayweather?s controversial KO last month over Victor Ortiz, in which Floyd clocked Ortiz when Victor?s hands were down in the aftermath of a head-butt Ortiz launched at Mayweather in the fourth round.
Then again, Mayweather was winning handily during the short time his fight with Ortiz lasted. It wasn?t as though Mayweather was getting beaten up and had to resort to questionable ? if legal ? tactics to win.
Barker, on the other hand, gave Martinez much more trouble than was expected. The reason Barker came in as an underdog was that even though he was undefeated, none of the opponents on his ledger were recognizable outside of Europe and the United Kingdom. You know the old line ? they were household names only in their own households. No one would have been surprised if Martinez had gotten Barker out of there early.
Everyone was surprised, though, when Barker more than held his own over the first six rounds. Martinez looked sluggish and hesitant. For all his lack of top-flight competition, Barker showed a lot of skill, and Martinez was temporarily having trouble figuring him out.
The key word is ?temporarily.? Consummate pro that he is, Martinez ultimately made the necessary adjustments and turned the tide. A hard right to the head put Barker down for the count in the next-to-last round. Barker might have defeated any other middleweight in the world on Saturday. But he couldn?t beat Martinez, even though he gave the champ plenty of trouble.
So, which is more significant? A controversial knockout like Mayweather?s over Ortiz, or a come-from-behind stoppage like Martinez?s over Barker?
That?s a very difficult question to answer. For my part, I?d have to say Mayweather made a slightly stronger statement than did Martinez. To reiterate ? had the Ortiz bout not been cut short by bizarre circumstances, Mayweather would have beaten him easily ? and let?s not forget that Ortiz was No. 2 in the welterweight ratings going into the fight (Mayweather was unranked due to inactivity). Barker, on the other hand, was in neither The Ring?s nor Boxing Monthly?s middleweight Top 10 listings. Yet he had spectators thinking ?upset? through the middle rounds against Martinez.
Therefore Martinez did not, in my opinion, do enough to displace Mayweather as No. 2 pound-for-pound.
If Manny Pacquiao wins his November rubber match with Juan Manuel Marquez, it won?t really matter who sits below him in the pound-for-pound ranks. But if Pacquiao loses, then all of a sudden No. 2 will become No. 1. And, hard as it might be for many fight fans (including me) to swallow, that has to be Mayweather ? unless dark horse Nonito Donaire scores a spectacular win over Omar Narvaez later this month..
Charles R. Saunders is the author of several books including Sweat and Soul: The Saga of Black Boxers in the Maritimes from the Halifax Forum to Caesars Palace, as well as the Imaro series of fantasy/adventure novels. Considered by many to be one of the leading authorities on boxing in Canada, he is the current Vice-President of Boxing for the Society of North American Sports Historians and Researchers. His latest novel, Damballa, which centers around a fictional heavyweight title bout, is available at www.gopulp.info.
