Kevin Iole from Yahoo! Sports wrote an amazing post about Sergio Martinez and HBO which many people might not know or probably have missed it. As you know Martinez will be fighting on Saturday, March 12, against undefeated Sergiy Dzinziruk from the Ukraine. Many probably have never heard of him but he is no walk in the park. He holds a record of 37-0 with 23 knockouts and frankly, it’s quite puzzling why Martinez finds himself fighting an opponent like Dzinziruk who is being massively overpaid by HBO. In order to finalize the Timothy Bradley-Devon Alexander fight, one of the concessions HBO made to Bradley promoter Gary Shaw was to guarantee Dzinziruk a fight on its air. It paid an astronomical $850,000 to land Dzinziruk which would look like a good deal only if Dzinziruk turns out to be the next Marvin Hagler.
But the truth is Dzinziruk’s style is very different, his a defense fighter who only fires when you make a mistake. It’s a smart way to win a fight but it’s hardly the way to win a television audience.
The World Boxing Council middleweight belt that Martinez won when he defeated Pavlik last year won’t be at stake because the WBC stripped him of it.
Why, you ask? Well, Martinez wanted to keep the belt, badly and so when the WBC made Sebastian Zbik its No. 1 contender, Martinez wanted to fight him. Problem was HBO wouldn’t approve Zbik as an opponent and since HBO is putting up the money for his purse, Martinez did as HBO wanted and passed on Zbik.
So the WBC stripped Martinez and ordered Zbik to meet Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., whose main qualification in fighting for the middleweight title is the fact that his father is going into the Hall of Fame in June.
Then, wouldn’t you know it? HBO is suddenly interested in a Chavez-Zbik fight and may broadcast it in June for the title that was swiped from Martinez. Chavez the same kid who pulled out from so many fights and has admitted of using illegal substance to lose weight.
Do you see what’s happening here? Chavez Jr. hasn’t done crap to deserve a title shot. We also witnessed this sneaky technique last week when Saul “Canelo” Alvarez out of know where was fighting for vacant WBC title which was also stripped from Manny Pacquiao and how pathetic is it that your giving the opportunity to fight for a title and you can’t even make the contract weight.
What happen to the good old days were if you wanted to win a title you had to beat the champ? Now they will just take the belt from and give it to some young kid who hasn’t beat any worthy opponents, how gay is that!
You can Read Kevin Iole full article here.
hey edgar great article. i wouldnt change a thing on this article
EDGAR I WAS REFERING TO YOUR COMMENT WHAT HAPPENED TO THE GOOD OLD DAYS.
IN THE GOOD OLD DAYS YOU FOUGHT IN THE WEIGHT CLASS FOR A CHAMPIONSHIP. THE WEIGHT CLASS WASNT MANIPULATED T0 FIT THE FIGHTERS. THATS HOW THEY MANIPULATE EVERYTHING IN BOXING, THAT IS PART OF WHAT IS THE PROBLEM. THE OTHER PROBLEM IS THE WRITERS AND JUDGES ARE FOCUSING SO MUCH ON THE SWEET SCIENCE OF BOXING INSTEAD OF IF THE BOXER BEING THE AGGRESSOR AND GOING BALLS OUT TO WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP. THATS WHY BOXERS DONT HAVE TO REALLY BEAT UP THE CHAMPS ANYMORE. ALL THEY HAVE TO DO KNOW IS FIGHT LIKE GAY WEATHER RUN AROUND SHOOT OUT A COUPLE OF JABS AND YOUR CHAMP. EVEN GAYWEATHER KNOWS THAT. THATS WHY HE WONT FIGHT PAQUIO BECAUSE PAC WILL NOT LET HIM RUN AWAY HE WILL CHASE HIM DOWN AND KNOCK HIS ASS OUT. ALSO WHAT IS THIS P4P YOU WRITERS STILL HAVE GAYWEATHER STILL #1 OR 2 HE ISNT EVEN FIGHTING ANYMORE. YOU GUYS MUST BE GIVING HIM CREDIT FOR BEATING ON HIS X. WHAT A JOKE.
WBC (especially) and the other alphabet titles is whats killing the sport too many titles. Promoters as well are killing it. (Golden Boy/Top Rank feud preventing great fights from happening). It’s sad that great fighters like Martinez get screwed these days.
What they are trying to do is find the next big Mexican fighter, they know Mexico needs a new big Champ, and they are creating him, it’s really sick, because it outlines what the current state of Boxing is, it’s everything that’s wrong with the sport.
In any other sport out there, football, baseball, basketball, racing, everything other than WWE wrestling!, etc, you have to be the best at what you do to win a championship, periot, you don’t see the Lakers loosing their Championship because Stern striped the title from them and made a tittle match between the Bobcats and the Clippers.
Only in boxing you see this BS, only in Boxing people will pay to watch shitty fights made up by the “Premium Networks”, with low grade under cards, or like Don King says, Only in America!.
Boxing is a great sport, you never know when a fight is going to end, anything can happen in this great sport, but this is a great sport that is being ruin every year by the people who should be embracing and making the sport better.
To everyone who cares about the sport, go ahead and read the fallowing article about the state of HBO Boxing, very educating and sad at the same time.
Part one:
http://www.boxingscene.com/what-hbo-now-part-one–36193
Part two:
http://www.boxingscene.com/what-hbo-now-part-two–36245
I hope the people at the networks wake up and start doing the job we the fans with our subscriptions pay them to do.
We demand better fights and even better PPV EVENTS!
@Edgar
I agree with what you said. Both Canelo and Chavez are good fighters. They both have the tools to make it big. Like many, I don’t agree with the way they are being protrayed as the next big thing in boxing. They’ve fough bums. I don’t see how Mathew Hatton got a title shot in a division he hasn’t been in. It’s obvious that the WBC wanted for Canelo to be champion. This was the perfect opportunity. Why not make a tournament of the best 154 pounders and settle it that way? If Canelo really wants to prove to the people of what he is made of, he can fight the winner of the Cotto vs Mayorga. NO ??? Alfredo Angulo ?? Kermit Cintron ?? Next thing you know, one of his previous opponents will get a rematch so Canelo can succesfully defend his title.
If Chavez wins his fight he can unify the title and fight Felix Sturm. How about fighting Martinez, even as a non title fight ??? Sebastian Sylvester ?? How a bout a catch weight fight with Canelo ??
Either way, both guys need to step it up a notch.
@J.Marquez If the weight wasn’t a big deal, I guess Canelo given 10% of his purse ($35,000) to Hatton is no big deal and canelo was also fine by the CSC another 10%. So I guess screw the contract right, I mean its only $70,000 you’re given away. There’s a contracts for a reason.
And for the record I like Canelo, I just don’t like how WBC did it and what the WBC is trying to make Chavez Jr. a champ, there shouldn’t be any free rides…
HEY EDGAR YOU SOUND MORE GAY CRYING LIKE A BITCH ABOUT CANELO COMING OUT OF NOWHERE TO FIGHT FOR A CHAMPIONSHIP, AND AT THE SAME TIME CRYING ABOUT THIS REAL NOBODY DINZINZRUK NOT GETTING TO FIGHT FOR A CHAMPIONSHIP. CANELO IS WAY MORE FAMOUS THAN YOU KNOW. WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN HIDING YOUR HEAD. AS FOR THE WEIGHT SCREW THE CONTRACTS, IF THE FIGHTERS ARE FIGHTING WITHIN THE LIMITS OF THE WEIGHT CLASS THEY ARE FIGHTING FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP THEN THEY WIN THE BELT. IF THEY DONT THEY GET NO BELT. THATS THE WAY IT USED TO BE IN THE OLD DAYS. LATE
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