Mayweather's legion of fans claim that no matter who mayweather fights, there will be a caveat, a "but wait..." from his critics, and they're right. I just want to clear the air right away, and sorry if this has already been said in previous threads, but this is an opportunity that I think mayweather will take for a couple of reasons. First, it's an opportunity to take the lineal middleweight title from a natural 154 fighter, and at the age of 35, sergio martinez is no spring chicken. while he is certainly prime enough to contend with and defeat taller fighters (williams and kp), if he loses by a wide margin, people can always say he was past it. that being said, I think it's worth noting that SRR's signature middleweight fights were always against shorter men. SRR was 5'11", and jake lamotta and gene fullmer were 5'8" and 5'9", respectively. SRR always got a lot of credit for beating the bigger men, but this deserves a closer look in my opinion. A 5'11" WW in the 50's would be a lot like paul williams in the WW division now, in my opinion. any way you slice it, I think martinez is a bigger challenge than pacquiao (sorry, mainstream), and big props to floyd if he takes it. and no shame in losing if he decides to chase history a la duran and srr
Martinez I think is at his peak at 35. He is along with Williams the most dangerous 154-160lbers out there. He hasn't showed a sign of slowing down. Floyd would get mad respect and wouldn't be labeled a cherry picker anymore if he did beat Martinez, who's been on a hotstreak. He is also a southpaw, very fast, and very strong. He is much closer to his prime than Mosley was, so Floyd definitely would get credit from most boxing fans than the mainstream media. He might get more if he beat Williams tho. Williams is the man at 154.
I'm not sure he is a bigger challenge than pacquiao but it is close. Either fight would be great challenge for mayweather and be a big boost to his resume. Both would be preferable though but pac is really his true road to major greatness for me
Martinez is the new flavor of the month here at eastside. WHY THE FUK would anyone want to see such a stylistic nightmare is beyond me. Two defensively minded counter punchers measuring each other over 12 rounds and picking their spots. More proof that you guys really don't care about how Floyd fights. You just want to see him lose. Bullsh_t. Floyd would immiedietly be labeled as ducking the winner of Martinez-Williams: the tall lanky volume punching hard hitting Paul Williams. You know it, so stop jiving. Floyd has no buisness at 160 unless it's his last fight. Focus on Pacquiao.
Sergio at 154 would beat any version of Pac. Don't let the mainstream media fool you! Sergio is COLD! You hear me? That ni99a is a banger. It's blasphemous to even compare a barely 146lb. Pac to a 154lb. Sergio. This is getting ridiculous!
I think i'm the only one who doesn't see this as an easy win for floyd.. Martinez beat pavlik.. who was getting to him till the cuts. Pavlik is average at best. Was exposed by a grandad. ffs. Floyd's movement and speed is too much for him .
Seems like all of Floyd's potential opponents from here on are southpaws. If he can beat all of them then that ends the myth of him being troubled by lefties.
