Martinez: With all my heart i want Margarito to win......

February 19th, 2000 will forever be a special night in the world of boxing because of the thrilling battle that was put forth between Mexican legends Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera. The two heated rivals met for the first time inside of the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas and after twelve pulsating rounds Morales walked away with a split decision while Barrera came away having fully rejuvenated his career in the fight of the year.
What rarely gets mentioned is the fact that the first Morales-Barrera fight had an extremely noteworthy bout take place on its undercard as Tijuana’s Antonio Margarito won a seventh round stoppage over Argentina’s Sergio Martinez. At the time neither fighter was well known by the mainstream public and the off-TV affair seemed to fly completely under the radar.

Heading into that bout Martinez was two days shy of his 25th birthday and all of his previous fights, all victories, had taken place in Argentina against non-descript opposition. Margarito was just a 21-year old kid and had already suffered some hard knocks in the sport by losing three of his first twelve fights but he was then in the midst of an eleven fight winning streak.
What becomes clear in looking at the bout is just how less refined Martinez was as a fighter. Today his best assets are his incredible quickness, slickness and ability to throw stringing counterpunches from all angles but against Margarito his awkward southpaw attack was relatively ineffective. Margarito’s pressure saw him often pin Martinez to the ropes and he would eventually score his desired stoppage in the middle rounds.
Two years later Margarito would win his first world title with a hard fought, tenth round stoppage over undersized Antonio Diaz at Bally’s in Las Vegas and ever since he has been a familiar figure to boxing fans. As for Martinez, his road was slightly checkered as he continued fighting in his homeland before venturing out to such locales as Spain and the United Kingdom while later again invading America.
In October of 2008 Martinez took part in an HBO Boxing After Dark tripleheader by facing Kinshasa’s Alex Bunema, a strong and willing combatant whose career was again on the upswing after upset victories over Walter Matthysse and former champion Roman Karmazin. On paper it figured to be a competitive battle but instead turned out to be a showcase from Martinez, who completely befuddled his Congo opponent with angles and deft movement while tagging him with blazing combinations on his way to an 8th round stoppage.
On the same card Cuban standout Yuriorkis Gamboa blew through Marcos Ramirez and Alfredo Angulo battered tough Ukrainian born Bronx fighter Andrey Tsurkan but it was Martinez who stole the show. It was his introduction to American audiences and ever since people have been charting his every move.
The two fighters’ careers have headed in different directions in recent years as Margarito was scathed for his recent hand wrap controversy while Martinez is still basking in the glow of his April victory of Kelly Pavlik that netted him the middleweight crown yet there seems to be a certain connection between the two men. Martinez is very close with Margarito’s trainer Robert Garcia and was present at the coach’s recent fundraiser that took place at his personal facility in Oxnard, California.
Margarito is facing off with dynamic southpaw Manny Pacquiao on November 13th at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas and there were initial rumors that Martinez would be brought in as a sparring partner for his former foe’s camp. Those rumors were later shot down yet Martinez still has a keen eye on the contest with hopes that Margarito will be left standing so that he can avenge his lone defeat.
“With all my heart I want Margarito to win, because that could result in a rematch between Margarito and me,” Martinez recently told Notifight’s Miguel Angel Cebreros. “I want that rematch with Margarito but I think it will be very difficult for him because this is the best period in Manny Pacquiao’s career so I think Manny Pacquiao will win on points. But I hope Margarito does his best in the fight and wins because after that I might be next.”
Earlier this year while at Randy Couture’s boxing club I ran across Martinez, who was in town for that weekend’s HBO doubleheader featuring a rematch between Joan Guzman and Ali Funeka as well as a matchup between Marcos Maidana and Dominican Victor Cayo. Despite Maidana being from Argentina, Martinez’ was there to show support for his stable mate Cayo and spoke to the media about his friend’s chances as well as his own upcoming fight with Pavlik, which was then just a few weeks away.
Cayo would end up being blown away by Maidana in six wild rounds and Martinez was present at ringside to take in his friend’s demise. With Maidana now in line to face off with WBA junior welterweight champion Amir Khan on December 11th at the Mandalay Bay, it only seems natural to listen to Martinez’ take on the fight.
“It’s a very difficult fight. My best wishes are for Maidana. I know that he is in for a very difficult battle because Khan is one of the best in the world. I’d bet on a very even match but I think Maidana, with one punch, could change the course of the battle

 

in was abit dissapointed with this article giving the headline :blurp