Has Sergio Martinez Ever Randomly Tested For Steroids?

A green Margarito? YDKSAB! Martinez too was green at that stage when he fought Margarito.

 

It's possible that anyone could have taken steroids but I see no reason to suspect Martinez more than anyone else. I don't think what he did was all that "unbelievable" to be honest.

As others pointed out Martinez was also a great athlete and he started boxing late so he peaked later. After he lost to Margarito he learned and improved from practice and experience, simple as that. He landed a really good shot on Williams in the second fight, that can happen in boxing and I never thought Williams was anything special anyway.
He outboxed Pavlik, who was past his best and never that good or skilled to begin with imo, using his huge speed advantage.
I don't think he did anything that couldn't be done without PEDs.

 

Yeah nobody ever gets injured without using steroids.

 

I think every great fighter is a once in a lifetime fighter if I am honest.

I think athleticism is strongest definitely in a boxer's 20's which is common sense and undoubtedly a key aspect of a boxer's success but many have shown that it is not the be all and end all of it. I think there are many fighters today in their mid 20's who aren't in their prime and are not really near it. Lomachenko is an incredible talent but at 26, he still is a raw pro. I think we'll only see the real quality of a guy like this in his early 30's.

 

The guy is suspicious as h*ll and you'd be blind not to see it.
-Cycling background
-late prime (yes he got serious about boxing when he was 20 but the other facts outweight this)...namely:
- 10 stoppages against terrible opposition in his first 31 fights (up to 2003), but suddenly in 2004 he gets 16 stoppages in 22 fights against much better opposition. (Not including his last 2 fights which I feel he was badly shot in)

Most fighters KO the bums early, then when they step up, the KO's drop.

-His body is suddenly falling apart on him despite no real injury history. Hes he is aging...but come on?

HE IS SUSPICIOUS.

 

Ah yes Bernard Hopkins he surely must have been on steroids too then. I mean he lost a fight early in his career against somebody who never amounted to anything as a pro boxer but then went on to win numerous title fights, beat the same Pavlik who Martinez beat and also the likes of Tito Trinidad, Oscar De La Hoya, Winky wright, Jean Pascal, Antonio Tarver and Roy Jones Jr. He also gave Jermaine Taylor and Joe Calzaghe close fights, won titles in more than one weight division and had some of those wins when he was way older than Martinez was.

 

It's not like he turned into this fighter who beat Pavlick over night it took him years of hard work and ecperoence.

 

**** off

 

I suppose just about everybody is suspicious because who really knows? I can't say for a fact, 100% that so and so is clean save for maybe a handful of fighters. Having said that, here are a few different reasons why I don't think Martinez was/has been on PEDs.

Cycling/soccer background:

Sergio Martinez has always been a natural athlete. Martinez has always had a cut look and you can even look back at the Antonio Margarito fight. Maybe he's not as buff as he is now, but that's obviously because he is a middleweight nowadays.

Resume:

Take a look at Sergio Martinez' record. From 1997-2002 what do you see? A lot of decisions and virtually all these fights in Argentina. What does this mean? It means a natural athlete with not much boxing ability is going the distance versus a lot of club fighters. Nothing special. But, from 2003 to present day, what changes?

Obviously, what sticks out are the stoppages of around the same level of quality opponent. What's happening here? One could quickly assume, "Oh, well, he's obviously taking steroids," or PEDs or whatever of that nature.

Or, you can see that there is, perhaps, a natural logical explanation to all this. For one, Martinez has moved away from Argentina. After the Margarito fight he may have realized that he was nowhere near competing at world level. He needed a better trainer, better sparring, etc.

From 2003 to 2006 he starts primarily fighting across the Atlantic. This is where he would presumably meet Pablo Sarmiento.

You can even see in the Margarito fight that Martinez has some skill. Back then, Martinez had a high ceiling and had the potential - with the right trainer - could potentially blossom into a really good fighter. Also, you can see his trainer is clearly not Pablo Sarmiento, it's some bald fella.

With the help of Sarmiento, Martinez - who was once just strictly an athlete with boxing gloves on - turned into an athlete with actual boxing skills.

You can presume Sarmiento molded Martinez into a boxer. Showed him how to use his athleticism into boxing technique. Showing him better footwork, better technique in terms of moving, pivoting, developing better punching technique, etc.

And that was the fighter who broke onto the scene on HBO a good five plus years now.

Drug testing:

Martinez has asked for random testing in the past. Granted, we've seen this before where Andre Berto asked, or at the very least, agreed to random drug testing and was busted. So, point taken, but nevertheless, you have to be encouraged and think to yourself that if someone is actively endorsing random drug testing they have to be given the benefit of the doubt that they may very well be clean.

Final thoughts:

Do I know 100%? Of course not, but I would be mildly surprised if Martinez was busted for any kind of PEDs. It's not as if there are major red flags. It's not as if he was some fat slob at 20 years old and decided to take a boxing. It's not as if he just became some power punching monster after the Margarito fight. He didn't fight one way, and become completely different overnight. There is a some sort of explanation, some reason every step of the way.

 

A boxer's prime is generally 28-32. In my opinion, any prime that comes noticeably outside that period is suspect. The OP has a good point about Sergio.

Though I think you could argue that since he beat Williams at the age of 34 Sergio actually has been in decline, but it wasn't so noticeable because his competition was eurolevel plodders and the like. So I'm willing to believe he might be clean.

Anyone suggesting that Klitschko, Marquez and Hopkins don't roid can't be taken seriously.

 

Your post comes across as super ignorant. Steroids don't make you an amazing boxer overnight and don't give you skills and ring smarts