Sergio Martinez... ATG?

Hmmm... interesting. Thanks for the response Chitown.

Just how I see it, but... G fought Proska late in 2012.... before their fight, Golovkin had beaten almost nobody of note outside a battleworn, blown up Ouma, and was even entering the year that year ranked 10th in the division, with Macklin (the guy Martinez chose to fight instead of Golovkin) ranked third in the division. Should he have fought Golovkin instead of Macklin? Of course not. If you go back further than that, the Barker fight, Martinez was looking for opponents for that date around the same time Golovkin was beating Ouma in the first place, which was G's only notable win... so if someone really wants to give a fair assessment to Martinez's legacy, the truth is Golovkin was simply not a realistic opponent at the time. He had done practically nothing in the division up to that point and was fringe top 10. Now if you want to say he should have fought Golovkin instead of Murray or Cotto, thats a different story.

But to say Martinez should have fought Golovkin before G fought Proska, which was G's coming out party for HBO and really his foray into fighting guys in the top 10 of the middleweight division, seems to me to be a bit revisionist history and makes little to no sense at the time given Golovkins standing within the division pre Proska.

As for Chavez, after a lengthy campaign from Dibella and team Martinez, the WBC finally ordered them to fight in 2011... Chavez asked for a voluntary defense beforehand, which the WBC approved. Which is why they didnt fight til late 2012. When exactly did the WBC order them to fight pre 2011? (which was almost year before they actually fought, which again, took almost a year to materialize because Chavez requested to have a voluntary in between) and really, when you add in the fact that he wound up fighting Chavez anyways, adding Chavez as a 'big threat that Martinez swerved' seems a bit disingenuous.


And fighting Rubio instead of Cotto? Like the Golovkin fight, this appears to be overzealous nitpicking at best. The Cotto fight was the type of fight Martinez had been waiting for his whole career for and is likely the only reason he kept fighting after the Murray fight in the first place considering him and everyone around him must have known he was done at that point. But you are right in this one, technically speaking he 'should' have turned down the highest payday of his entire career and the fight against the highest rated p4p opponent he ever fought, in the biggest event of his career, so he could fight the unheralded trailhorse Rubio in his final fight. Technically speaking, youre right. So, an * is going to be put on Martinez's legacy, a guy that fought Margarito, Williams twice, Pavlik, Cintron, Murray, ect... that he swerved his 'biggest threats', because in his last fight he chose Cotto instead of Rubio? ...... come on lol.


To sum it up, nothing you put (Pre Proska Golovkin, Chavez Jr who he fought anyway, and Rubio) are examples of Martinez 'swerving his biggest threats' in his career, as you put it, and I think most reasonable minds would see it that way. Especially considering Rubio was not a bigger threat than Williams of the time Martinez fought him, or Pavlik, both of whom he fought, and he fought JR anyways, meaning, besides Golovkin he did fight his biggest threats. Saying Martinez swerved his biggest threats seems revisionist history at best, and a bit disingenuous nitpicking at worst.... just imo though.