Sergio Martinez is a bit of a tough luck fighter in terms of trying to get fights. Even though he is top 5 pound-for-pound and The Ring Magazine champ, he still has problems getting big money fights. His latest spat was with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. who is a big draw in Mexico and also the WBC Middleweight champion. Martinez is the WBC Diamond Middleweight champion, meaning that he was the honorary champion, whatever that means. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Top Rank have been avoiding Martinez like the plague, because Sergio is very good and he would thoroughly embarrass Chavez Jr. if they ever fought. At the WBC convention earlier this month, Jose Sulaiman made Martinez the mandatory for Chavez Jr's WBC belt. Everyone knew that this fight was not going to happen, but at least DiBella and Martinez were going to get some step-aside money. As Scott and many others reported yesterday, Chavez Jr. is going to be facing Marco Antonio Rubio and it might be for the WBC title (More on that later). Let's just say that Martinez isn't taking that news too well. Martinez pretty much blasts everyone in a report by The Ring's Lem Satterfield.
"I hate the cowardice that Chavez has taken on, as well as that of his coach, Freddie Roach, and Bob Arum in avoiding every day the fight with me and promoting him as a champion in the boxing world, which is a lie. I never thought that a world champion would avoid somebody this way. Unfortunately, this sort of attitude can hurt our sport."
It is understandable why Sergio is so angry. He is not getting any younger and it would be good for him to cash in on his recent success. Sergio then turned his ire to the WBC.
"On Dec. 20, Don Jose Sulaiman spoke to me, and he asked me to move aside and to let Chavez fight Rubio on Feb. 4. I was shocked. From then on, I felt like there was a knife that had been stabbed in my back. I told him that I had to speak with my team because that sort of decision is something that I can not decide by myself. But people [apparently] thought that the WBC had thrown me some change or some money to step aside, but what had happened is that Don Jose said that I had authorized his decision. That's an absolute lie. I have not authorized that fight. And from here on, that fight is the end of a lie."
Sergio then turned his ire to HBO, who forced Martinez to face Sergei Dzinziruk instead of Sebastian Zbik who already agreed to fight Martinez. HBO then leapt at the opportunity to feature Zbik and Chavez Jr.
"I don't agree with what HBO did with me, and that's why I'm leaving them at HBO. You know that for a boxer, it might be harder to say no to HBO and to the WBC. But there are a lot of changes today with HBO and with the Showtime boxing people."
Sergio then went on to mention that he would be willing to take on Andre Ward at a catchweight. Not too bad of an idea given that Andre Ward is under contract with Showtime. Also Bute might be another option for Martinez and Showtime. Anyways, I absolutely love that Martinez did this. It reminds me of when Paulie Malingnaggi went off after getting screwed by the judges. More fighters need to complain or else this stuff will keep going on.