Sergio Martinez: Manny Pacquiao Won't Fight, Floyd Mayweather Might
by Scott Christ on Nov 5, 2011 8:09 AM EDT
in Boxing News Analysis
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Nicholas Samuliov of Notifight.com (via BoxingScene.com) has some quotes from reigning middleweight world champion Sergio Martinez regarding potential big fights with Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr, and "Maravilla" believes only one of the two could happen:
Regarding Pacquiao - "He said he wanted to fight me at 150 pounds. I accepted. When I reached the conclusion that I could make that weight, I accepted. And now he says he wants it at 147 pounds. I've not made that weight in twelve years. I don't think I can make even if I cut off both legs. It is physically impossible. Pacquiao is completely ruled out."
Regarding Mayweather - "With Mayweather it's possible. We're going to make a proposal and carry it forward. It would take place at 150 or 151 pounds. That would be the agreed weight. Mayweather is a possibility and that's quite solid and concrete. You do not need a title for us to fight. But anything is possible."
Martinez (48-2-2, 27 KO) is 36 years old and doesn't have a lot of big-money options at 160 pounds, or even at 154. He also mentions that he no longer expects that he'll ever be matched with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr (arguably the biggest money fighter at 160) and has taken the DiBella company line regarding Dmitry Pirog. I will note that it's somewhat hilarious to say that Pirog "needs to make something of himself" when Martinez's last two fights have been with Sergiy Dzinziruk and Darren Barker. Give me a break.
Does anyone figure that Mayweather vs Martinez could actually happen? Do you think Floyd is going to be willing to take that fight?
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I could certainly see Floyd agreeing to fight Martinez at 150 or 151 since Martinez would be so compromised. Hell, Pacquiao and Roach both claimed they were willing to fight Martinez at 150, but Arum of course immediately said they were talking out of their asses.
I don’t really mind Martinez’s line on Pirog since I’m not entirely sure his resume is better than Barker or Dzinziruk’s anyway. I also think the other real problem there is the fact that they have no interest in fighting for the WBO belt after the way they were stripped, and Pirog hasn’t done anything at all beyond beating a prospect for that paper title.
martinez vs floyd/pac
martinez is a bum challenging lower weights… he wish to get to the spot lights like marquez wishing a big paycheck. that said im still looking forward for pac to fight martinez, as pac previously said he wants martinez, but roach sees super welter is already too much, pac barely weighs 150lb against margarito, so why the need to go up to a weight you cant even reach? martinez though is a good challenge for pacquiao. arum sees martinez is not a marketable opponent. but i hope pac face this guy. floyd jr wont take martinez, he cant take such risk. frankly, since when did floyd ever took a risky fight?
by Eurashima Keataro on Nov 6, 2011 12:20 AM EDT up reply actions
The Media has done a great job at blinding you.
Pacquaio hasn’t fought a risky opponent since Eric Morales whooped his ass. Pacquaio ducked Mosley after Mosley beat up Margacheato. Mosley was the number one contender, that didn’t look washed up. Mayweather is the fighter that took the challenge. Mayweather fights opponents coming off wins, and very confidant. Pacquaio is fighting less confidant fighters coming off losses, with the exception of Marquez. However, Pacquaio could have fought Marquez at 140 or 135, but since everybody said Marquez didn’t look well against Mayweather at 144, Pacquaio accepted the weight gain as an advantage.
by InYourFace151 on Nov 11, 2011 1:41 AM EST up reply actions
Mayweather isn't fighting Martinez in a million years.
The risk-reward makes no sense. He will take the PAC fight before he signs to fight Sergio.
I really like Martinez, and I like Dibella in general, However I just find the attitude towards Pirog strange. You can’t bitch about ‘none of the star fighters taking you on’ when you are just basically trying to ignore the one guy in the division that could give you a real fight.
If Pirog has done nothing to deserve the shot, why the hell does Dibella tell Peter Quillin that if he beats Pirog then he gets to fight Martinez?
I’m not saying that there is any ‘ducking going on here’ (I think Martinez wins both fights), but the argument just seems a bit strange.
Nobody will read this and care and why should they?
I’m not saying that there is any ‘ducking going on here’
If you won’t, I will: They’re ducking Pirog. Whether or not Martinez would win (I believe he would) isn’t part of the question. None of their arguments about it hold water. Unless Pirog is asking for moronic amounts of money for the fight, there’s no reason they aren’t fighting him. They aren’t actually taking bigger or better fights with guys like Barker, Dzinziruk, and next most likely, Matthew Macklin.
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by Scott Christ on Nov 5, 2011 10:26 AM EDT up reply actions
I feel like you’re using a very loose definition of the term ducking here. As you know, they didn’t want to fight Dzinziruk; that was a fight forced on them by HBO, so using the fact that they fought Dzinziruk and not Pirog as evidence of ducking doesn’t really work IMO.
As for Barker, he cost less money than Pirog since he was a challenger (which probably also factored a great deal into HBO’s approval of the fight), and exposure-wise he probably had benefits that Pirog did not since he could speak English and brought the Sky coverage. The same applies for Macklin, who also (if you thought he beat Sturm) brings in a better resume than Pirog.
Pirog’s team turned down a fight in the US this past year and instead chose to fight another undersized opponent in Russia. I simply don’t see how Martinez can be interpreted as ducking a guy who has done absolutely nothing to force the issue and hasn’t even beaten a top 10 middleweight once in his career. His sole claim to legitimacy is a paper belt that rightfully belongs to Martinez anyway.
I feel like you’re using a very loose definition of the term ducking here.
The fight is talked about all the time, it’s a perfectly legit fight, arguably the best fight he can make in the division, and he and his promoter keep saying no while not making fights that are any better. What more is there to it?
As you know, they didn’t want to fight Dzinziruk; that was a fight forced on them by HBO
They wanted to fight Sebastian Zbik, who falls into the same category of unknown fighter for an HBO fight as Dzinziruk and Barker.
I simply don’t see how Martinez can be interpreted as ducking a guy who has done absolutely nothing to force the issue and hasn’t even beaten a top 10 middleweight once in his career. His sole claim to legitimacy is a paper belt that rightfully belongs to Martinez anyway.
And yet the fight is demanded and talked about frequently, and Pirog’s promoters have tried to make it happen, only to be very publicly told no by DiBella with the reasoning that he isn’t a big enough name. If the reason was “You’re asking for too much money” then fine, he’s asking for too much money, or if he refused to do it anywhere but Russia, then fine, he’s being difficult and dumb. But the guys they’re fighting have no more name power than Pirog, and Martinez vs Pirog has been just a bit more called for than Martinez vs Barker/Dzinziruk.
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by Scott Christ on Nov 5, 2011 11:07 AM EDT up reply actions
The fight is talked about all the time, it’s a perfectly legit fight, arguably the best fight he can make in the division, and he and his promoter keep saying no while not making fights that are any better. What more is there to it?
But they’re also not making fights that are any worse than Martinez-Pirog, and so I don’t think it’s a duck in that case. I also think you’re severely overestimating the amount of heat that exists for any Martinez-Pirog fight. DiBella sounds like a complete jackass when he whines about nerds on the internet, but I would be shocked if the gate for a Pirog-Martinez fight in the States is anywhere near the Barker numbers or a Martinez-Macklin fight. Finally, I think Sturm and Geale clearly have better resumes than Pirog, and even guys like N’Jikam could be seen as more accomplished than him. I thus see little reason to call it the best fight in the division.
And yet the fight is demanded and talked about frequently, and Pirog’s promoters have tried to make it happen, only to be very publicly told no by DiBella with the reasoning that he isn’t a big enough name. If the reason was "You’re asking for too much money" then fine, he’s asking for too much money, or if he refused to do it anywhere but Russia, then fine, he’s being difficult and dumb. But the guys they’re fighting have no more name power than Pirog, and Martinez vs Pirog has been just a bit more called for than Martinez vs Barker/Dzinziruk.
Again, something being called for “just a bit more” isn’t sufficient to constitute a duck, especially when the opponent brings no real money or long-term exposure to the table in my opinion. Hell I would say Macklin has received more exposure in the US since the Sturm fight has probably been seen by more than Pirog-Jacobs due to the regular replays on NESN
The main thing Pirog’s teams has done for the past year and a half to try to get this fight is to start whining every time Martinez fights someone else. They finally put an offer on the table, but that was for a fight in Russia for no more money than Martinez is currently making in the States and with no US coverage. Titov and Pelullo have refused to take any productive steps to either make Pirog an obvious opponent for Martinez by beating another quality name in the division or improve their fighter’s level of exposure in the States by taking on another opponent there. I realize this isn’t entirely their fault, as Davis has publicly expressed little interest in bringing him back to HBO. But I have no idea why the onus is then on DiBella and Martinez to “unify” for a belt they already won against a guy with no name value and no real fanbase outside of his home country.
“Just a bit more” was not serious. The fight has been talked about far, far more than these other fights.
I would be shocked if the gate for a Pirog-Martinez fight in the States is anywhere near the Barker numbers or a Martinez-Macklin fight.
Maybe not with Macklin, if indeed his being Irish matters, but the Barker fight drew very little and many of those tickets were discounted to a serious degree. I don’t think Pirog could do worse, honestly.
Look, I don’t care if they do the Pirog fight or not, but I don’t think it’s unfair to say that Martinez and DiBella just don’t want the fight. You can disagree, but I just don’t think they want it.
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by Scott Christ on Nov 5, 2011 11:44 AM EDT up reply actions
“Not wanting” at a particular moment in time is different than “ducking” though, especially if there are legitimate reasons involved. I mean you defended Bradley against those accusing him of ducking Khan, but I have no idea how that’s not a duck given the standards you appear to be using here.
Also, Martinez-Barker still did a gate around $500,000, which is pretty good even with the ticket giveaways. It certainly didn’t bomb like Hopkins-Dawson did.
Sergio Martinez isn’t taking time out from the sport to leave a promoter. I don’t think it compares to the Bradley situation.
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by Scott Christ on Nov 5, 2011 12:39 PM EDT up reply actions
Right but the less charitable could frame it as leaving a promoter and the sport precisely because he didn’t want a Khan fight. Setting aside Bradley though, was Roy ducking Dariusz and Collins? Have Hopkins, Pascal, and Dawson all been ducking Cloud? Was Pacquiao ducking Berto and Marquez when he elected to fight Margarito and Mosley?
I just have a very hard time using “duck” when the opponent in question is not the biggest name nor the clear next-best fighter in a given division and appears unwilling to do anything to change that situation.
Right but the less charitable could frame it as leaving a promoter and the sport precisely because he didn’t want a Khan fight.
Personally I don’t think there’s any way to see leaving second-rate Gary Shaw for first-class Top Rank for anything but exactly what it is, a better situation for Timothy Bradley’s career.
was Roy ducking Dariusz and Collins?
In a way, yes. But nobody wanted to travel.
Have Hopkins, Pascal, and Dawson all been ducking Cloud?
No, because they’ve been taking bigger fights than a fight with Cloud.
Was Pacquiao ducking Berto and Marquez when he elected to fight Margarito and Mosley?
I think we all know the guy Pacquiao was “supposed to” be fighting and it wasn’t Andre Berto. He’s fighting Marquez now and people still feel the same way.
I just have a very hard time using "duck" when the opponent in question is not the biggest name nor the clear next-best fighter in a given division and appears unwilling to do anything to change that situation.
That’s fair if you feel that way. I think Pirog is about the best fight out there for him, and there has been some racket made about it. I also agree Pirog could actually fight a real fucking opponent sometime, though. That might be a step.
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The Dream Fight
Pacman vs Martinez or Floyd Vs Martinez. Alot of Latinos would watch Martinez fight Floyd on Cinco de Mayo.
No way.
The money wouldn’t be enough for Floyd vs. the risk. I could see a Cotto fight, if Arum would be willing.
Wear something sexy to my funeral.
I could see Floyd fighting Martinez
I’ve never been really impressed with Martinez. Yes, he did have a great KO of Williams but the way he fights with his hands down, it’s almost like he’s trying to do a bad impression of Roy Jones. He’s the best in his class but so was Butterbean.
Martinez just wants to capitalize on Floyd first
If Martinez fights pacquiao first he knows mayweather wont give him a chance after pacquiao whoops martinez’s ass but if he fights mayweather first he thinks he can still land a fight with pacquiao whether he wins or loses to floyd. I’m sure floyd wouldn’t mind because it gives him another oppurtunity to say pacquiao is fighting his leftovers…..oh and yes i think floyd would easily beat martinez.. So Martinez and his promoters plans are to capitalize on floyd first then capitalize on pacquiao. Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out.
martines vs pacquiao
i think pacquiao wants martinez next. berto is another name but martinez is the bigger challenge. he is big fast and powerful. i wish this fight. on mayweather vs martinez is also good, but im not expecting this. floyd jr’s too self protective he wont take risky fights.
by Eurashima Keataro on Nov 6, 2011 12:12 AM EDT reply actions
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