Martinez-Lemieux... thoughts?

I haven't watched any of Sergio Martinez' pre-Cintron fights, and was wondering about his capacity to keep a pressure fighter on the outside for 12 rounds. Maravilla has great footwork, handspeed, timing... how does he handle punchers that like to get inside???

Sergio's physiological attributes, experience and ring intelligence make me wonder if David Lemieux could ever stop him if they were to fight each other... time will tell (i.e. lots of variables), but I believe there's a slight chance we'd see this matchup before the end of 2011.

Lemieux has a short 64" reach, where as Maravilla's is around 76". Lemieux destroyed the [77" reach] Rainmaker by getting inside, working the body and following with left hooks / straight rights. I think Sergio's southpaw stance & defensive abilities would make it hard for David to land the hooks, but... can Martinez box David's head off for 12 rounds?!? I'm sure Russ Anber would work with David during camp to establish different tactics that would help him cut the ring against a fast guy like Sergio.

At 35, Martinez is going all out for a money fight... might even drop the belt. Assuming Lemieux becomes his mando, and assuming they fight sometime in the fall, how do you see this fight going?

Every single ****in guy who fought Lemieux started running scared of his punches after a couple flush shots. I'm not saying he's fought great opposition, but at the same time, which of the WBC's top 10 fighters do you see signing for a Lemieux fight after Rubio goes down in March?

I'd like Martinez fans to explain how they see him avoiding the KO without running a jab marathon... the whole world knows the kid can drop anybody who stands in front of him.

"And he never jumps in the air and goes crazy -- he just walks to the neutral corner after the knockouts," said Anber, who has trained Lemieux since he was 9. "He's a kid I've tried to teach about the history of boxing, and he has the deadpan look of Joe Louis. He doesn't go crazy with a big celebration. Maybe he'll go up on the ring ropes after the fight to salute the fans, but that's about it. I like that."

"He's the first one in the gym and the last one out. At this stage, you just don't want to rush him, but we want to build up to a title fight. We want to develop him a little bit more to become champion and then have him stay champion for a long time. But it's not only his punching power and dedication that I like. I never, ever have seen a kid that cool -- in the dressing room before the fight, walking to the ring. It's like he has ice in his veins. He has no fear. He's cool, cool, cool. Anyone Lemieux will hit flush will go down," Michel said.

:smoke

 

It's just odd that his people are pushing for it then... and really, he'll fight Rubio in March but there would be a step-up fight in between Rubio and Martinez.

After Rubio, who do you honestly think will accept a fight with him? And really, the Rubio fight is an eliminator so no big choice there for El Veneno...

 

Couldn't help myself.

 

Agreed, Martinez is way way way up there. I'm just not sure if Anber & Michel know what they'd be in for... saying they don't know jack **** about Martinez is probably incorrect, so it's either a bad judgement call or an ace up Anber's sleeve. Lemieux talked about Martinez & Pirog in a recent interview (e.g. La Zone de Boxe)... are they insane or what?!

GYM would make the biggest mistake of their history by putting their most promising fighter in with a guy they KNOW is classes above Lemieux's current status. Something's up, especially with them shooting at the WBC belt rather than focusing on a Sylvester or even a Sturm... in all likeliness, neither German would care inviting Lemieux to a fight in their backyard. Lemieux would have to start aaaaaaaaall over again obtaining an eliminator from another sanctioning organization. There's a big mess at the WBA with Sturm, Golovkin and N'Jikam, where as the IBF & WBO only rank Lemieux 15th and 10th respectively.

Maybe Yvon Michel is aiming at a Lemieux-Zbik fight knowing that Maravilla will vacate the belt within the next year...........

 

http://netboxe.com/rep1/fildinfo.php#11282

Translation (3rd article down):

The WBC bumped Quebecer David Lemieux up one spot in their world middleweight rankings, putting him in the number 2 spot, just behind Mexican Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Those newly dealt cards could give a winning hand to Yvon Michel and allow him to bypass the scheduled Rubio fight. Let's remind ourselves that the WBC sanctioned an eliminator between Lemieux and Rubio at their last convention (?). Yvon Michel would like to hold the fight in Montreal, in the April timeframe, as part of the last event of the Fast & Furious series. Not being able to come to an agreement, both parties will most likely take part in a bidding process which the WBC should hold in January (note: deadline is Jan 7th). However, with these new rankings, Lemieux could end up facing interim champ Sebastian Zbik. If current WBC Champion Sergio Gabriel Martinez were to refuse to fight Zbik as ordered by the WBC, Martinez would lose the belt and Zbik could become the titlist. Zbik would then have to defend the belt (as part of the crowning process) against a mandatory opponent which could be the winner of a Chavez Jr - Lemieux fight. If Chavez Jr were to refuse to fight Lemieux, we could see a Zbik-Lemieux fight.