What has Sergio Martinez really done to impress all of you so much?

IMO, the 5 Most Important Martinez Feats

1 - Moving up to 160 to defeat Pavlik
Martinez was the overwhelming underdog against Pavlik (My league had Pavlik favored 25 to 9), other threads, articles, and official odds would show similar sentiment.

Not only did Martinez win, he did so in a manner I dont think any other 154lber could have done at the time, or since.

This win cant be overlooked or underappreciated, it was actually quite a feat to beat Pavlik while being the much smaller man.

2 - Paul Williams KO2

Williams fought many good fighters.... Margarito, Quintana, Wright, Lara, ect.

Only one person ever stopped him, and that is Martinez. And the way he did it was the shot heard around the world.... and is still one of the most talked about KO's to this day. Williams was not only a top fighter at the time, he was close to being a p4p fighter, if he wasnt already.

3 - Best Middleweight Reign since Hopkins
Martinez has now defended the middleweight title more then anyone since Hopkins was dethroned, over 7 years ago.

Jermain Taylor : 4 Defences
Hopkins UD
Wright DRAW
Ouma UD
Spinks SD

Kelly Pavlik : 4 Defences
Taylor UD
Locket TKO
Rubio RTD
Espino TKO

Martinez : 5 Defences
Williams KO2
Dz KO8
Barker KO11
Macklin KO11
Chavez UD

If you really look and compare their wins as middleweight champions, the guy whos come up from 154 has put together a better reign then Pavlik ever had, by far... and has been more impressive then Taylor, who... funnily enough, while everyone says Martinez needs to quite picking on smaller fighters patsch), 3 of Taylors 4 defences were against former 154lbers, 2 which only moved up to fight him and then went back down.

So, bottom line, Martinez has been the best Middleweight champion since Hopkins. That counts for something.


4 - Beat up Chavez for 34 minutes out of 36
The fact that he got dropped in the last 2 minutes of the fight, by a completely primed, and huge middleweight, has seemed to overshadow the fact that up till that point in the very last round.... he was completely dominating Chavez. He was dominating Chavez in a way I dont think anyone else at 154 or 160 could have done (that includes Pirog and GGG) (I bring up 154 because I believe Martinez can still fight there, as he says) So while on paper, that win might not seem like a whole lot, the fact that Chavez was so much bigger, in his complete prime, undefeated, and Martinez did it in a way that I dont think anyone else could from 160 down (winning almost a complete shutout before getting dropped in the last round), I rank that as a quality win.

5 - Macklin KO11
Nobody seems to give the current Macklin the status he deserves as a middleweight. The fight before Martinez, he gave Felix Sturm (a top 4 middleweight by anyones standards) all he could handle, and showed he was a world class middleweight. Then the fight after Martinez, stops Alcine in 1. The same Alcine that beat everyones former middleweight goldenboy (after pirog, but before ggg) Lemieux.

This is by no means a great win, but it is without a doubt a solid one considering what Mackline has been doing at middleweight for the last 2 years.


Now, I think that Martinez resume certainly lacks some depth compared to the ATG's of this era. But one needs to remember, the guy didnt really burst on the scene until 2008, and even then has been highly, highly avoided. How is a guy going to build an impressive resume while at the same time being avoided by the guys that would give him one.

And are there other perspectives to each of these fights? Of course there is. Any intelligent and non bias fan knows theres two sides to almost every fight. Thats just the way it is. There will be critics who see the worst in each of these wins, and will point out all the known facts that Hopkins already beat Pavlik, ect, ect.

But I dont think anyone without an agenda can take much away from what Martinez has done to this point and not see it as a respectable body of work. Is he p4p #1? of course not... I dont think many have him as such. Is he an ATG? Not yet.

But has he put together a string of quality wins? Yes he has.


Just Imo

 

Like I already said, anyone can flip almost any win into a negative view.

I can go through almost every ATG and rip apart their best wins if I wanted to, using the same methods you are.

You are reaching towards seeing the negative in his achievements so much that it almost looks like you have some sort of agenda against him to be honest.

Martinez wouldnt fit in an era with better middleweights? You are saying that you would have to go to an era with better middleweights, for Martinez not to fit. Well.... obviously. However, finding a recent era where Martinez wouldnt be a top contender in (at least top 5) would be hard to find.

Lets take the last 15 years flat and see where Martinez fits into the top 5 at middleweight.

1996
Hopkins : better then Martinez
The Rest : Castro, Holmes, Joppy, and Bradley : Martinez couldnt hang with them?

1998
- Hopkins : better then Martinez
The rest : Joppy, Green, Holmes, Bradley : Martinez couldnt hang with these guys? Ya right.

2000
- Hopkins : better then Martinez
The rest : Joppy, Echols, Holmes, Armand : Again, Martinez would more then hold his own with this group.

2002
- Hopkins :
The Rest : Simon, Joppy, Allen, Periguno : I see no reason why Martinez wouldnt be setting himself clearly apart from the pack at middleweight other then Hopkins

2004
- Hopkins
The Rest : Hoya, Trinidad, Sturm, Taylor : Once again (notice a trend?) Martinez would arguably be the best out of the bunch, outside of Hopkins

2006
- Taylor, Abraham, Wright, Miranda, Castillejo : I dont see why Martinez couldnt become champion in this time period. The division was not bad but I think Martinez would beat everyone listed.

2008
Pavlik (beat already), Abraham Sturm, Sylvester, Gevor, Griffin : Current Martinez could have been champ in this time no question.

2010 to todays date is the current scene and doesnt need to be gone over.


So, you have to go back almost 20 years to find some middleweights, and a few eras, that Martinez (a natural 154lber) wouldnt have succeeded as much in against the top of the division, and you think that means something significant?

It doesnt.

All that means is that boxing has a long and rich history of ATG's, and Martinez hasnt quite reached that level.

But as usual, many boxing fans have some sort of complex where, if you dont stack up to a few ATG's throughout boxings rich history, you somehow arent impressive.

Bottom line is, Martinez is a good middleweight champion, especially having been a fighter who came up from 147 and 154. He would be competetive with almost every group of middleweights in the last 20 years, which speaks for itself.