I blame the lack of heart of the 154lbs opposition ---> remember, Martinez only moved up when he got the replacement opportunity over the Pavlik-pullout and only decided to stay when TR thought Martinez would look good on Stephlik's resume (he does). But the stars were still at '54, for example Poochiao fought for the very title Martinez vacated, there was Cotto, Margarito, Alvarez joining shortly, now Floyd... but none wanted to face him so he stayed up at 160 where the best name was Williams. With Namsain' out of the picture, it's actually quite logical to return where he belongs and it's not DiBella's fault that Arum and De La Hoya are holding back their cash cows.
Different era though.. Duran fought at a time when all the best fighters actually wanted to compete against eachother.
Completely different era. Boxing was Huge in the 70s. Martinez really got handed the sh*t end of the stick. No natural Argentinian fan base in the US or Europe. He's 37, so he doesn't have a decade to build a following based on his excellence. I think Dibella's doing the best he can. Arum and GBP refuse to match their fighters with Sergio. That is the ultimate problem. If the promoters refuse to allow Pac, Floyd, Canelo, JCCJr., etc., into the ring with the guy, wtf can Dibella do about it?
Here we go again :roll: Do some research you damn tits ! Dibella got Martinez on HBO. Dibella got him two championship belts. Dibella is the guy that gets him million dollar paydays. Before Dibella Martinez was fighting in Europe and making 1000 euros per fight. He had to work side gigs to support himself. No one wanted to sign Martinez but Dibella did. He promised him at least 30 000 per fight. Dibella is great and thanks to him we have Martinez right now. So fuuuuuck you.
Anyway, I agreem GBP or Top Rank would have made him a huge star by now...He has the looks, the style, and the resume. How many superstars has he promoted recently? Jermain Taylor?
Not really. What the **** Bob Arum did to Gamboa's career? Couple of unknowns then throw him in vs. a beast 2 divisions higher? Yuri said no, now he's getting sued. atsch Not much progress of Erislandi Lara's career either under Golden Boy. The reason Martinez stayed at DiBella's outside of loyalty is the lack of quality offer from TR/GBP - of course, because they didn't want to sign him and get their cash cows brutalized (not that Pavlik's head didn't turn into a speedball, but that was a miscalculation). Which is funny because Martinez is exciting, charismatic, draws female fans, a nice guy, a role model, a social figure and very highly skilled - but he's also Argentinean, so that's that.
