On Saturday, April 27, the universally acknowledged World Middleweight Champion Sergio Martinez (50-2-2, 28 KOs) will fight in his home nation of Argentina for the first time since February of 2002, when he battles undefeated Martin Murray (25-0-1, 11 KOs) of England at the Club Atletico Velez Sarsfield soccer stadium in Buenos Aires. The fight will be broadcast live on HBO.
Martinez is more than just the boss at 160. The explosively athletic southpaw is ranked between 2 and 4 on virtually any credible pound-for-pound list you will encounter. On yesterday's international media call, Lou DiBella referred to Martinez as "the greatest fighter I've ever promoted."
This will be the sort of event that will remind American fans the degree to which boxing is truly one of the great international sports. Martinez's triumphant return to the stadium where he was once a professional soccer player is a terrific story, and HBO deserves credit for delivering it.
If you grew up in the 70s, this is the kind of broadcast that will bring back memories of The Wide World of Sports, which remains the greatest sports show ever.
Martin Murray will make for a live opponent. He's a hungry and determined fighter with an undefeated record and experience going on the road to fight a popular champion in front of a hometown crowd. In December of 2011, he went to Germany and drew with WBA champion Felix Sturm.
It was a competitive fight that many felt Murray deserved to win. Still, going to Germany and giving hell to an over-the-hill Felix Sturm is one thing. Travelling all the way to Argentina to make war with Sergio Martinez is a tougher task by an order of magnitude.
I spoke to Murray on the phone last week, and he sounds like he has the right attitude going in. I had noticed that Murray had done a recent media appearance in England with Darren Barker, a fellow Brit and former Martinez victim, and I asked Murray if he had picked up any tips from his countryman:
He just said that he gave him too much respect. That's something I won't do. I can't afford to do it. If I put Martinez on a pedestal, I've already lost.
When Murray fought Sturm, the German represented a major step up in competition at the time. Against a much more experienced opponent, in front of a hostile crowd, Murray remained composed and altogether unimpressed with his surroundings.
But Murray himself is the first to admit that he faces a far tougher challenge this time. "It's a massive venue," he said. "A different fight, a different environment, for me."
Murray will show up looking to win, but whether or not he has a realistic shot is a different matter. His unbeaten record and his competitive performance against Felix Sturm make him a legitimate top-10 guy at 160.
But it's hard not to view him as an opponent brought in to make for an exciting KO victim in Marvavilla's victorious return. He doesn't see himself that way, and he won't approach the fight that way. That's what makes it interesting.
But nobody is going to be surprised if that ultimately turns out to be the case.
On the media call, Martinez sounded like a guy excited to finally get in the ring and go to work. He spoke about Murray and his qualifications in respectful terms. Talking about those who have doubted whether or not Murray had a valid shot, Martinez said:
Those are just people's opinions. I never take anything for granted. When you are in the fight, anything can happen.
Still, the champ was 100 percent confident and guaranteed a knock out. He added:
My team and I are extremely confident going into this fight, and the expectations are very high, and because of that I know that this is going to be a great event and a great night for my countrymen on Saturday night.
When the inevitable question came up about who Maritnez would fight next, he was quick to shut it down, insisting that he wouldn't talk about any other fight until he had taken care of his business with Murray. Fans are going to speculate, though.
Undefeated WBO champion Peter Quillin fights 25-1 Fernando Guerrero on the Danny Garcia-Zab Judah undercard at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, tomorrow night on Showtime.
WBA belt holder Gennadiy Golovkin is quickly becoming something of a People's Champion, and if he handles Matthew Macklin this June in the same spectacular manner that he has handed everybody else, I think call for a Martinez-Golovkin bout will finally become too loud to ignore.
But for now, everything is laid out perfectly for Martinez to have a truly special night on Saturday. It's the kind of moment that the that the future Hall of Famer has earned.
Read more Boxing news on BleacherReport.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment