There was a time when being a champion and holding a belt actually meant something. The belt held its rightful place around the waist of boxers who actually earned the right to be called a champion.
However like many things that get watered down boxing champions are stretched thin that even undeserving fighters sometimes are able call themselves champion.
Sergio Martinez is not a watered down champion.
Before 2007 Martinez fought only once in the US-the fight was against a hard nosed Mexican named Antonio Margarito. Martinez on that night in 2000 was handed his first pro career loss. After the fight Martinez would fight in his home country of Argentina, Spain and the UK for the next 6 years, then in 2007 Martinez made his comeback fight in the US against Saul Roman a fighter coming into the fight on a 16 fight win streak- Martinez took Roman out in 4 rounds. Since 2007 Martinez has fought his last 12 fight here in the US.
In that time span he has fought Paul William (twice), Kermit Cintron, and ex-middle weight champion Kelly Pavlik. Along the way he picked up the middleweight belt from Pavlik, and the 2010 knockout of the year against the crafty Paul Williams. Granted he did lose a very close call to Williams in their first bout and a majority draw against Cintron, but Martinez has been dominate in the Middleweight division.
Along with Martinez superior boxing skills, he is also a great ambassador for the sport and supports many other great causes, add has movie star looks it’s a bit perplexing that he is not a household name in America.
Perhaps Martinez has failed to gain the American audience because of the language barrier. Martinez either chooses not to speak English when being interviewed or he has not quite learned the English language yet.While there is no reason that Martinez needs to speak English nor should he go out of his way to learn English but there are very few other reasons as to why Martinez is not a huge draw in the states.
In the past big named fighters such as Manny Pacquiao and Miguel both of whom speak other languages first before English took it upon themselves to learn English
Would Martinez benefit from learning English? Yes.
This is not to say Martinez is not successful without English, but if Martinez views boxing as a business then learning English and making an effort to attract the American audience, it may be worth it. It has been a huge benefit for both Pacquiao and Cotto and Martinez is just as exciting and talented as both of them, yet he is not even close to being as popular as those two seems to indicate that he is lacking in other areas.
In the end, Martinez does not need English to be successful in the ring, his fists already do the talking, yet maybe English could help Martinez plead to the boxing community and casual fan into getting them on the bandwagon about a fight with Mayweather or Pacquiao. Martinez and his team have already stated that they are willing to go as far as a 20/80 split with Mayweather.
Mayweather was not willing to a 50/50 split with Pacquiao, so perhaps a 20/80 split is viable. Mayweather loves to have cash and Martinez is willing to give up some in order to fight the best.
The question now becomes are the best willing to fight him?
I think he certainly benefit from learning English however he doesn’t have time for this type of thing given his age.
And you think Floyd avoids Manny? Floyd won’t go anywhere near Sergio…guaranteed!!
Comments are closed.