Last night for those that seen the fight were privileged to watch drama unfolding in the fight as Mathew Macklin looked to be in control of the fight as Martinez seemed confused. Macklin changed his style as he is normally an aggressive fighter that throws a lot of punches. He did throw punches but also had a very tight defence and moved quite a bit. Martinez never seemed to get what Macklin was doing. It seemed that Martinez did not seemed worry that he would defeat Macklin. Throughout the buildup to the fight Martinez talked about his struggles to find the big money fight all the while looking past Macklin. Macklin would get a knockdown in the seventh which was more of a slip than a knockdown and following that Martinez opened up his arsenal and started to land, throughout the 9th, to 11th Macklin seemed to fade quite a bit and Martinez sensing that unleashed an all out attack to stop Macklin which he did in the 11th as he managed to get two knockdowns. Buddy Mcgirt( Macklin?s trainer) would stop the fight at the end of the round. Martinez would move his record to 49-2-2 with 28 knockouts.
Will his performance help get him a fight with Mayweather?
Considering that in this fight Martinez looked vulnerable at times a potential fight with Floyd Mayweather seems more realistic now more than ever before. He is also asking for only 20 percent and is willing to do whatever Floyd wants to make this fight happen. Let?s make something clear Floyd does not need Sergio Martinez as bad as Sergio Martinez needs Floyd Mayweather. Mayweather has all the money in the world and taking a fight against a fighter who is not a box office draw does not benefit Floyd financially, it does however benefit Floyd?s legacy and makes Manny Pacquiao look bad by fighting a top pound for pound fighter in Sergio Martinez. All of this benefits Floyd by seeing Martinez performance.
How do we rate Martinez performance?
His fight with Macklin was outstanding and for the fourth consecutive time on HBO he would get a knockout victory. However the fact that a fighter like Macklin a b- fighter managed to land on Martinez does make people wonder if Martinez is as good as everyone says he is. I believe he is every bit as good if not better. It is my belief that he did not take Macklin serious as an opponent and that Macklin fought the fight of his career. Martinez is typically a slow starter but once he figures out his opponent he begins to open up. I credit the game plan of Buddy Mcgirt for Macklin performance. Consider that we the boxing fans are spoiled in getting to watch a great fighter like Martinez fight on HBO and not have to dish out money for a paperview. But consider the fact that he has stopped his last 4 opponents and whether it was on HBO or paperview I don?t see people complaining afterwards. Martinez performance raises questions about his age and commitment in training in this fight. But overall it was a highly entertaining fight that can be considered a off night from a great fighter.
Why is Sergio Martinez not a bigger star?
Many people raise this question and it is somewhat confusing when you have a fighter delivering knockouts on HBO not becoming one of the top draws in boxing. I think the main problem is he has a not established a home base. Maybe he can fight in New York for the remainder of the year and establish that as his home base. After all New York has a big Latino market but Lou Dibella is simply looking for that big fight that will make Sergio Martinez a big star but it ultimately falls on Lou for not doing that when he had the chance to a few years ago. Another idea is for HBO to provide a documentary on the life of Sergio Martinez who grew up poor and was bullied and robbed 11 times to becoming a world champion. All of that plus go on a campaign where he could stalk Mayweather or Pacquiao and call them out everywhere. More importantly there have been many fighters that have received the most ducked tag such as Antonio Margarito, Paul Williams and now Sergio Martinez the only difference is Martinez is no flash in the pan he is a legit star with star making performances. In a sport where most of our superstars don?t deliver big performances, Sergio Martinez seems to always deliver the goods.
