Sergio Martinez Wary of Chavez Jr Rematch in Texas, Wants Cotto at Catchweight

Despite saying he'd be open to a rematch with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, middleweight champion Sergio Martinez isn't enthusiastic about the idea of facing Chavez in Texas, as Bob Arum has said he's considering. Arum wants to stage a rematch at Cowboys Stadium, but Martinez doesn't trust the commission:

"Bob Arum suggested a rematch with Julio, in Dallas, in the American football stadium of the Cowboys, with 60,000 people and pay-per-view. But [I'm not sure about that]. There, Chávez does whatever he wants when it comes to the rules....regarding the doping [tests] and things like that - they are less rigorous [in Texas]....let's put it that way. They are less demanding than [the commission] in Nevada."

It's absolutely no secret that the Texas commission has come under fire numerous times over the years for supposed bias toward certain fighters, and Chavez Jr has been a major issue there in recent fights.

In February, when Chavez Jr says he had to lose 13 pounds in a day just to make weight for his win over Marco Antonio Rubio in San Antonio, there was a fiasco with drug testing not even taking place. The Texas commission actually doesn't require drug test, but the WBC -- which supervised the fight, as it was for their title -- does have it written that testing is required for every title fight.

[ Chavez Jr vs Martinez: Recap / Video Highlights ]
[ Chavez Jr vs Martinez: Invisible Man by Oli Goldstein ]

The WBC allowed Texas to take the blame -- after basically demanding that Texas take the blame -- for an alleged "oversight," in which the commission says they failed to book the laboratory, which is convenient. Rubio's team wasn't having any of it, and filed a formal protest, but that went nowhere.

Even beyond that, Texas defied the Association of Boxing Commissions ruling on open scoring in fights, and allowed the WBC to use it for the fight with Rubio.

Last week, WBC boss Jose Sulaiman had a fit about the appointed officials from the Nevada commission, as the WBC had no say. This despite something his company said back in February during the Rubio fallout:

"The WBC can not get involved in the internal affairs of the commissions."

But that's the WBC for you. Always has been, always will be.

Honestly, if I were Martinez, I wouldn't even consider going to Texas to face Chavez Jr -- there is literally no good that can come of it. And I think he knows that, and they'd probably have to give him some astronomical, illogical figure to get him to agree to that fight. It appears that while Sergio may want the big bucks that he deserves, he will not yet simply sell out.

On the topic of big money fights for Sergio, he says he'd like to meet Miguel Cotto at a catchweight (I'd guess something like 156 or 157 pounds). Cotto, who faces Austin Trout on December 1, hasn't fought over 154, but has expressed some desire to fight for a 160-pound title, and if he did a catchweight with Martinez, he'd be fighting The Man at 160, and not just some titlist.

I don't know if Miguel would want the fight -- he's shrugged off the idea of fighting Martinez before, because he didn't think he could get the sort of payday he likes for a fight with that sort of risk. But Martinez's star is brighter than ever after the Chavez Jr fight, so maybe things will have changed there. Cotto has options all the time, so it would be up to him, and the Trout fight is no walkover, either. He has to deal with that first of all.