“Fighter of the Year” honors for “Maravilla”
It was a banner day this past Sunday when WBC Middleweight Champion Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez was awarded the World Boxing Council Legends of Boxing Museum’s (WBC LBM) prestigious honor of 2010 “Fighter of the Year.” Held at the museum’s site on the grounds of the American Sports University in San Bernardino, the southpaw was awarded this title on the heels of his shocking second round KO of Paul Williams on November 20. This power shot is also being touted as the “Knockout of the Year”; and that one punch catapulted the boxer into an international superstar zone.
Here are some photos from the southpaw’s special day, which was a double celebration for the organization. WBC President Dr. Jose Sulaiman’s 35th Anniversary of Presidency shares the same date of this year’s Awards Induction and Holiday Toy Drive.
The weekend ceremony was a festive one for all of the boxing aficionados in the room. Joining the new “Fighter of the Year” were the nine other well-deserving inductees: 
Wayne McCullough, Kenny Thompson, Carina Moreno, Dr. Joe Noriega, Luisito Espinosa, David Avila, Big Joe Miranda, Bert Colima and Fernando “Bobby Boy” Velardez. The WBC LBM “Promoter of the Year” recipient Ken Thompson enjoyed meeting the slugger as did fellow fighter up-and-coming lightweight Stan Martyniouk–as you’ll see in these pics.
The luncheon had quite a star-studded attendance as ring announcer and event emcee Sonny Franco introduced to the crowd: Champions Timothy Bradley, Paul Banke, Bobby Chacon, boxer Stan “The Man” Martyniouk, trainers Floyd Mayweather Sr. and Jack Mosley, WBC “Judge of the Year” Max De Luca, WBC officials Zac Young and Eddie Hernandez, among many other luminaries who met and mingled with the fans.
During the day, there were autograph sessions, book signings, live entertainment, prize raffles and special presentations. Then it was time for the “man of the hour” to receive his award as Martinez was anointed the “Fighter of the Year.” He thanked everyone for all their support, especially the WBC, all the WBC LBM board members–and boxing fans–who have made this world-class athlete the one to watch.
Other than Manny Pacquiao, Martinez is “the man” in boxing right now. He is the one everyone wants to fight; and he is the one all the fans want to see fight. In one supreme knockout performance, he has brought a new level of excitement to the sport.
His promoter Lou DiBella no doubt has a boatload of offers coming in for his superstar 
middleweight, a former soccer player who didn’t begin boxing until he was 20. The Argentinean boxer has made up for lost time, amassing a 46-2-2, 25 KOs record on his way to defeating Kelly Pavlik and Paul “The Punisher” Williams in high-profile fights. But it was in his rematch with Williams that the boxer from Buenos Aires really shook up the boxing world. With that one clean powerful left, people haven’t stopped talking about Martinez.
I asked Team Martinez about all the talk of future opponents. Everyone from Floyd Mayweather Jr. to Miguel Cotto to Andy Lee to PacMan himself have been bandied about. I asked the camp what’s the latest news. They said negotiations are still going on but one thing is for certain–at this time, they did say no Pacquiao. “Too small,” they said. According to many other reports, Germany’s WBC Interim Champ Sebastian Zbik may also be a frontrunner for a bout in the spring with the reigning WBC titlist.
Whoever Martinez faces next is in for a war as the power puncher has proven he is one fearsome warrior in the ring.
Congratulations to Sergio Martinez and to all the inductees, the WBC LBM’s Rudy Tellez, Jaime Ochoa, Angel Ochoa, Armando Yepes and Dr. Harry Hwang and everyone involved for an exciting year-end boxing bash.
Photos by Michele Chong
