Sergio Martinez will fight on

In what seems to be the theme of the day, Sergio Martinez will also not retire and seeks to continue his fight career, reports ESPN. Martinez has spent the last few weeks contemplating his boxing career in Spain, after he was effectively beat down by Miguel Cotto on June 7th. He ultimately determined that this would not be the end for him and informed his longtime advisor, Sampson Lewkowicz, of his decision.

"Miguel De Pablos (Martinez's business manager) and I met with Sergio at his home in Madrid and he says he is 100 percent healthy and ready to do what it takes to return to the very top of boxing," Lewkowicz said. "Against Cotto, Sergio was badly hurt in the opening round from the first left hook that landed. After that, he remembers only pieces and had very little control of his body and especially his legs."

"He fought entirely on instinct. It was the worst night of his entire career and he is coming back to prove he is a superstar fighter who just had a bad night."

The fact that Martinez says he's 100 percent healthy gives me some pause to think that he still might be suffering from some lingering brain injuries, courtesy of several concussive left hooks from Miguel Cotto. Unless he's recently had some cybernetic legs installed and is now some sort of bionic man, its hard to see how he could ever be 100 percent again.

Thankfully, before Martinez makes his ring return, he will be thoroughly evaluated by doctors in New York to ensure he's healthy enough to carry-on. Says Martinez's promoter, Lou DiBella:

"The first thing we want to do is make sure he sees a good orthopedist and then we'll see, but Sergio is a big boy," DiBella said. "He's self aware. He has the right to decide when he continues and when he gets out. I think the next fight will not be a huge name but somebody credible enough to determine if he still has it in the tank. If he can perform well in the next fight then we'll go from there.

"But he will not allow himself to come back against a stooge. At the same time he's not going to come back against King Kong. The idea is for him to face a real, legitimate professional, a top-15 kind of fighter and then go from there. If he's OK, he wants one more opportunity to win a title. He's not coming back for a five-year campaign. If he elected to call it a day, he'd have my blessings and I'd throw him a party. The fact that he's elected to continue was his decision, and we'll handle it like professionals."

This announcement of Sergio's return clearly isn't as disturbing as that of Roy Jones and James Toney. I will even say that I do think Martinez deserves an opportunity to go out on a better note than what we just witnessed, and I think he can, but whether or not he can actually win another world title at this point is a completely different matter. Nonetheless, that's Sergio's goal.

"We're going to put him in with someone who can get him in line for a title shot and see what he can do," DiBella said. "If he doesn't look to be the same fighter anymore, I will be the first to admit it, but he deserves the chance to prove it was just an off-night (against Cotto) in an otherwise stellar career."

Martinez does undoubtedly deserve a shot. Lets just hope he doesn't extend what should be "a shot," into ten.