Sergio Martinez Received Threats

Threats and an incident of vandalism over the weekend at the Oxnard-based training camp of two-division world champion SERGIO MARTINEZ (49-2-2, 28 KOs), of Argentina,has forced the cancellation of Martinez’s Media Day Workout, scheduled for Tuesday, August 28 in Ventura, Calif. Martínez is deep in training for his upcoming challenge of undefeated World Boxing Council (WBC) middleweight champion and Son of the Legend, JULIO CÉSAR CHÁVEZ, JR. (46-0-1, 32 KOs),of México.

“This past weekend Sergio received threats from an unknown source and the car in front of his home (in Oxnard, Calif.) was vandalized,” DiBella said. “Unfortunately, until we have a security team in place, we are going to have to suspend any and all public and media appearances for Sergio, including the upcoming media day scheduled for (Tuesday). We apologize for the inconvenience to the media and fans that have planned on attending (Tuesday’s) event.”

DiBella said that Martinez had been threatened “verbally” but that when the car was vandalized it raised concerns for his safety.

“I didn’t get into all the details but the basic facts suggested that we need to beef up security around him, and with this particular event so close to the fight it was better to be safe than sorry,” DiBella said.

DiBella said it was unclear who was making threats against Argentina’s Martinez (49-2-2, 28 KOs).

“Nobody is blaming any of Chavez’s fans,” DiBella said. “Maybe it has something to do with somebody who has a beef with Sergio personally. People will scream stuff at (a fighter) like, ‘I’m gonna get you,’ or ‘I’m gonna kill you.’ Fighters have heard all of that stuff before. But when stuff gets vandalized you do take it a little more seriously. We spoke to security people and they suggested that we cancel this workout. So when security experts say you shouldn’t do this, we listened.

“No one is saying this is an international incident. But Tuesday was too quick to get everything together with security and have Sergio be relaxed, so we canceled this one.”