Sergio Martinez Not Expecting to Fight Chavez Jr, Despite Agreement

Despite both fighters signing an agreement that in theory puts together a September fight between Sergio Martinez and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, Martinez says he doesn't expect Chavez will actually fight him, and that if he doesn't, he'll likely take a homecoming fight in Argentina next.

Martinez (49-2-2, 28 KO) has supposedly been guaranteed a shot at the WBC title that was stripped from him in bogus fashion in 2011, an act that made it possible for the sanctioning body to all but put a bow on it for favored son Chavez (45-0-1, 31 KO).

Since he was stripped, Martinez has beaten Sergiy Dzizniruk, Darren Barker, and Matthew Macklin -- and despite he and promoter Lou DiBella complaining about the WBC not honoring their promises, Martinez continues to pay sanctioning fees for their "diamond title." And despite the two complaining about HBO's role in the matter, Martinez continues to fight on HBO.

I said before that I'm not sure anyone is really itching to make this happen. Perhaps the signed agreement could have changed my mind, but it didn't, and now that we know Martinez doesn't expect the agreement to matter, it sure as hell doesn't.

There's another fighter's signature on that paper, too: Andy Lee, who faces Chavez on June 16. Basically, if all three parties had not signed, there is a chance the WBC would have had no choice but to strip Chavez, or at least not allow him to defend the belt against Lee in El Paso. Lee, like Martinez, is promoted by DiBella. If Lee beats Chavez, DiBella has an easy fight to make in Martinez vs Lee.

And if Chavez beats Lee and still doesn't fight Martinez, oh well. It's kind of like wanting to own a yacht. That'd be great, and I'd love to have a yacht, but I don't have enough money for one, so how disappointed can I really be?

In a way, the agreement allows the title fight to happen, which may not really matter for Chavez (if he wins, he could just move up in weight anyway) as much as for DiBella and Lee. They want the title, and rightfully so. To put a more positive spin on it, Martinez and this agreement are kind of helping a brother (Lee) out.

Martinez has discussed fighting in Argentina in recent weeks, and DiBella has given it some lip service, too. Sergio actually hasn't fought in Argentina since 2002, when he left for Spain, the country he was based in until 2007. Since December '07, he's fought exclusively in the States. It may be a bit of a trick getting HBO to go down there, but it could happen.