Hasnt Martinez been the underdog in his last 5 fights? I think starting with Bunema. That is 5 fights in a row he has been the underdog and come through with *wins. Donaire has only beat the odds once in Vic. The rest of his fights he has been a favorite and for a reason because he has big size advantages and also normally fighting overmatched opponents.
I dont think that analogy works. Winning from being an underdog means ****. This is boxing. Most people here would have Manny as no1 and he hasn't been an underdog in a very long time
You don't need a whole decade but a strong finish can tip the tide, look at pac. He didn't do too much to start the decade off, it was more his second fight with marquez onwards.
Seems like a lot are going for martinez here. I suppose his last 5 fights have been against the toughest available opponents. Cintron, williams, pavlik, williams, dzindzuruk. I still think that donaire flattening 3 division champ is more impressive than any single victory martinez has. I also still feel that the body of work overall is quite similar. I expect them to yoyo somewhat over the next year. Beating dzindzuruk puts martinez back up, but then beating koki/s4 winner put donaire back up. Either way these two are a fantastic advert for boxing and if things continue this way (floyd being inactive, pac taking joke fights, donaire/martinez fighting top dogs) then it's quite conceivable that these two will be the top two by the end of the year. In terms of landscape all these 4 names have big legacy enhancing fights available, but I think the top two are at a stage where they no longer feel the need to take risks. Donaire has spoken about moving up, martinez has sturm but other than that not much is available at middle. He could fight a lightmiddleweight or a supermiddleweight next and really underline his credentials. Ofcourse there is also marquez who has the potential to clean up 140. The landscape is amazing but I have a feeling it will only be these two boxers taking advantage of it. I fully expect it to be between these two and khan/bradley for foty.
martinez landed a some what lucky punch, add to that that williams was over confident that led to that opening....i really didnt feel that williams was getting outboxed or outpunched... but still i think nonito needs 1 more impressive win to overtake sergio....
Wlad very solid and so is Martinez. Neither that high or that low. Good fighters, but not as good as Pac, Donaire, Floyd, and Marquez. and I forgot Ward. Ward rounds out my top5