Sergio Martinez, 54-2-2 (28 knockouts), finally proved that he’s one of the elite boxers in the sport, destroying Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., 46-1-1 (32 knockouts), over the course of 12 rounds.
At the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Maravilla lived up to the promises he made earlier in the week in an ESPN interview that he would prove that Chavez was overhyped and claim his alphabet title.
I cannot accept the fact he is world champion. The only reason he is world champion is because he is Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., the son of the legend, and his mouth is so big— even bigger than his own brain—and he's talking too much.
While that was a bold claim, Martinez backed it up by bloodying Chavez’s face by the third round with his constant jabs. By the fifth round, some scorers were questioning what Chavez was even doing in the fight.
Michael Rosenthal of The Ring wrote: "Chavez did nothing. Not sure what the thought process is. Let Martinez wear himself out? Easy round to score.''
The 26-year-old Chavez was simply outmatched in this title fight. He made one last desperate attempt in the 12th round to win—and nearly pulled it off.
He attacked Martinez with a flurry of left-handed strikes that eventually put the clear victor of the bout on the mat.
Had this happened earlier, it’s likely that Chavez would have finished the job and knocked out Maravilla. It would have been the 33rd KO of his career.
However, the eventual winner stood up and held his ground for the remainder of the final round, winning the match 117-111, 118-109, 118-109 on the three scorecards.
Chavez simply didn’t have an answer for the 37-year-old southpaw, looking completely lost for long stretches. He was not able to do much more than take punches.
This fight proved—without a shadow of a doubt—that Martinez is the third-best pound-for-pound fighter on Earth.
Expect him to be in a super fight against one of the boxing elite (Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather, etc.) sooner rather than later.
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