Anyone remember when they brought Martinez over as the underdog to lose to England prospect Richard Williams for the IBO title? [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgwbYUo4LNs[/ame] [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5i3Ouo1VAoE&feature=related[/ame] I remember the rematch on a Brian Magee undercard in the Kings Hall, the fight after they invited Martinez back to fight Adrian Stone, who was KOd by Martinez. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADkg-FEBVzw[/ame] as good as he was back then, I never imagined he would go on to be a top p4per. worth a watch, enjoy
Indeed, I'm still laughing about the fact that Martinez was on a Brian Magee undercard, he was THAT unheralded, then when it was announced Bute was to fight Magee it was "Who the hell is Brian Magee?". amazing how the fight game changes.
yeah i remember this. williams was showing some promise back then. people thought he could go to the top and pick up a title. the secret was out, but martinez came over and ended any title aspirations that richard might of had. i really liked the guy and wanted him to do well. he was a solid fighter, but struggled with the moving style of martinez. the first fight was competitive but if memory servers me right (haven't seen the fight in a long time) martinez did enough to win the fight clearly. i put it down to williams not being up for the fight because he didn't really know who sergio was. just a bad day at the office. i expected williams to be better in the rematch. it wasn't to be. williams was stopped. we never saw williams as good as he was before he met sergio. the biggest fight after that was against howard eastman where he was KO'd late in the fight. that was the last we saw of him... which was a shame because had he not ran into martinez, he might well of picked up a world title. and what of martinez? well, it was clear he was a talented fighter, but i never saw him becoming the force he is today. strange game is boxing. i'm happy for him though. it's nice to see him become a success. but i hope barker can beat him and bring another world title back to the UK. you can do it darren!
