Sergio Martínez

At 49 years old, Sergio Martínez has this physical status:

Sergio Gabriel Martez (born 21 February 1975) is an Argentine former professional boxer who competed from 1997 to 2014.

He competed in the WBC from 2009 to 2010, and the unified WBC, WBO, Ring magazine, and lineal middleweight titles from 2010 to 2014.

Martnez's 50-month tenure as champion ranks as one of the longest in the history of the welterweight division, with six strong defenses of the Ring and lineal middleweight titles. Martnez achieved a career high ranking as the world's third best active boxer, pound for pound, behind Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao, according to the majority of sporting news and boxing magazines, including Sports Illustrated, ESPN, and Yahoo! Sports and The Ring.

Both The Ring and the Boxing Writers Association of America, as well as The Ring's Knockout of the Year for his rematch victory over Paul Williams in 2010.

In 2010, and 2012, the WBC named him their Boxer of the Year.

Martnez, a southpaw, has been described as a "crowd-pleasing" fighter, partially because of his ability to fight with his hands down when outside of his opponents' range.

He is the author of a book titled Corazón de Rey ("Heart of a King") and is currently working on a second book.

Early life

Sergio Martnez was born in Avellaneda on February 21, 1975 to parents Hugo Alberto Martez and Susana Griselda. The family was relocated to Quilmes, which is also located in the Buenos Aires Province, just a few miles south. In his "dirt-poor rural village," his father worked as a construction worker and metal worker, a profession where Sergio Martnez and his two brothers, Sebastian and Hugo Jr. Martnez, were coerced together as a child. Martnez was a keen cyclist and football player before boxing, but it wasn't until 1995 that he decided to become a boxer that he would be a boxer. Martnez began boxing as an amateur and posted a record of 39–2 (39 victories to 2 losses). In August 1996, his boxing career was marred when he broke his left hand, forcing him to leave the sport for a year. Despite being interested in Argentina at the 2000 Olympics, he decided he was too old to wait the two and a half years and turned pro in December 1997.

Personal life

Martinez is now living in Madrid, Spain. Silvana Carsetti, a divorced sports commentator, was once dated.

Martinez has been given an award for assisting bullied children. He has also advocated for the cause of domestic violence against women. He attended a press conference to promote legislation surrounding the Violence Against Women Act. Martinez was quoted as saying, "No one would touch the subject with a 10-foot pole." I was interested in the fact that a boxer who dishes out violence may also be thoughtful and do something, and that people would pay attention to someone like me. "I felt that speaking out on the issue would have the most effect."

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Professional career

Martnez, a twenty-year-old boy from Ituzaingo, Argentina, had his first professional fight on December 27th, 1997. Cristian Marcelo Vivas, the opponent on his debut in the second round, was disqualified, giving Martez his first victory. Martnez was involved in the first 17 fights of his career in Argentina, achieving a record of 16–0–1. This was the only blemish on his record, a draw with Mario Javier Nieva in his third match. Martnez rematch Nieva four months later and secured a six-round unanimous decision.

Martnez fought in Argentina for the first time after seeing a relatively weak response to his first 17 fights, heading to the United States to face Antonio Margarito in the first Érik Morales vs. Marco Antonio Barrera bout is expected to take place in the United States. On the 19th of February 2000, a confrontation took place at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Martnez's match got off to a rocky start in the first round, as Margarito got a knockdown. Despite Martnez's revival and even had some success in the early rounds, the referee was injured by a string of punches in round seven, resulting in a stoppage by the referee, giving Martnez his first loss. Martnez returned to Argentina and defeated eight times in February 2000-February 2002, all victories from April 2000 to February 2002. After beating outpointing Javier Alejandro Blanco in a series of fights, he took the Argentina welterweight championship. He held the title twice before losing the championship to Sergio Ernesto Acuna in the seventh round before being stripped of the title.

Martnez decided to move to Spain after his last fight in Argentina, a win over Francisco Mora in February 2002. It was there that he began his training with his new trainer, Gabriel Sarmiento, who worked out of a gym in Azuqueca de Henares. Martnez performed several jobs in Spain, including; nightclub bouncer, dishwasher, building worker, and even did modeling jobs for Adidas and Nike. He fought four times in Spain between 2002 and 2003, many eight-round matches that he defeated against weak opposition, but two of his opponents had lost their last six fights. However, this was going to change in his upcoming fight, as he took on Richard Williams in England for the barely regarded IBO light middleweight title. Martnez, who came as an underdog, received a unanimous decision. Despite Williams' knockdowns in the second and eleventh rounds, he was close to being disqualified in the final round, and Martnez's scorecards were strongly in his favour. He defended the IBO twice in the United Kingdom; a twelfth round victory over Adrian Stone in Bristol was followed by a rematch against Williams in Belfast, but Williams was disqualified in the ninth round. Martnez had seven fights in Spain in the past two and a half years, six of which were against boxers who had lost records. Martnez's campaign soon after began to gain attention and engage in fights in the United States, under the guidance of advisor Sampson Lewkowicz.

Martnez won the Interim WBC light middleweight championship on October 4, 2008, defeating Alex Bunema in an eighth round exit. Martnez fought to a majority draw against Puerto Rican Kermit Cintron on February 14th. The match was tense for a variety of reasons; Martnez knocked Cintron down with a clean left hand shot in the seventh round, and the referee called the number ten as the game was called off. However, Cintron argued that the knockdown was due to a headbutt, but that the headbutt, which Cintron claimed to have caused, was actually a very strong and accurate cross from Sergio Martnez. The referee overturned his decision after Cintron's demonstrations, and the war continued. The fight went the twelve round distance and the scorecards revealed a draw, although many Ringside observers believed it was a robbery and that Martnez should have won the game and that they should have won.

Vernon Forrest, the WBC light middleweight champion, was stripped of his title indefinitely due to a rib injury that would keep him out of action indefinitely on May 21, 2009. Martnez' interim title was upgraded to full WBC championship status due to his injury and his inability to face Sergio Martez. Despite the fact that the company also requested that Martnez face Forrest, the match will never take place. Forrest was tragically murdered in Atlanta, Georgia, less than a month ago.

Martnez fought Paul Williams in a non-title middleweight brawl at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall on December 5, 2009, a contest that later described as a year-old contest. Williams and Martnez will both be knocked out of the first round. Martnez will then appear to have a blast in the upcoming two rounds by effective power punching. When Williams appeared to win rounds 4, 5, 6, and 7, he seemed to barely hold the battle by launching his left hands to Martnez's head. Rounds 8–10 resulted in rounds 8–10, which showed that the match would be close on the score-cards if Martnez won those rounds by repeating what he did in rounds 2 and 3. Both fighters began to fade, but the exchanges remained very close, although Williams was still more mobile and therefore likely to win the final 2 rounds, despite the fact that he was much more present in the last two rounds of the competition. (11–12) Williams will win by a majority decision with scores of 114–110 (for Williams) and 115–113 (for Williams).

Sergio Martnez stayed at middleweight after an impressive show against Paul Williams, the Ring and lineal middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik challenged WBC, WBO, and even female middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik. On April 17, 2010, a brawl took place in Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall. Martnez defeated Pavlik unanimously in a fight in which Martnez survived a knockdown in the seventh round and go on to dominate a majority of the remaining rounds. Both eyes were cut off for several rounds, but not stopped bleeding. They influenced his vision and success, according to him. Pavlik chose not to enforce the rematch clause in the deal, citing his desire to gain weight. Martnez was the WBC, WBO, Ring and lineal middleweight championships after defeating Pavlik.

Martnez was ordered to make some decisions about his tumultuous WBC light middleweight title with his win in the middleweight championship. Boxers may choose to advance or lower in the weight classes, but boxing organizations for boxing are aware that boxers can also challenge all championship belts. As such, their laws prohibit a fighter from simultaneously holding belts in multiple divisions. This prohibition includes holding a position with one sanctioning agency while simultaneously holding a different weight class with a different group. The WBO stripped him of their middleweight title eight weeks after Martnez's decision to be a light middleweight or a middleweight champion (the WBO has the power to determine). Martnez did inform the WBC that he was able to leave their Light Middleweight title and keep his WBC Middleweight belt a week later.

Sergio had a chance to revenge his opponent, Williams, on November 20, 2010. Both fighters were ranked among the top six pound-for-pound fighters, and Williams came into the fight as the Ring No. 1. Middleweight 2nd place. Many predicted that this would be a year-of-the-year candidate. About one minute into the second round, Martnez knocked Williams out with a over-the-top left hand to keep his position. Many believe it was the year's worst knockout. "He caught me with a punch I didn't see," Williams said to Max Kellerman after the fight.

Sergio Martnez's next fight was against undefeated Sergiy Dzindziruk at the Foxwood Resort Casino, Mashantucket, winning by TKO in 8 rounds. In the fight, Dzindziruk, the WBO light middlweight champion, was knocked down five times. Martinez was also named with the WBC Diamond belt.

Martnez then fought undefeated EBU middleweight champion Darren Barker at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on October 1st. In the 11th round, he knocked Barker out with a very strong right hook, putting Barker to his knees.

Darren Barker has the attributes and ring generalship to be a champion one day, according to several boxing analysts and experts, but not to do much against Martnez. Barker was actually able to make Martnez uncomfortable in the ring and cause him more trouble than anticipated in the first few rounds. Barker continued to give Martnez issues throughout the game, but never hurt him or really winning any of the rounds, but he didn't give Martnez a challenge by coming in but not refusing to allow Martnez counter or land anything clean. By an upper-cut, he managed to get Martnez's nose to bleed early in the rounds. Martnez, on the other hand, battled through the obstacles to emerge with openies that culminated in a knockout of Barker in the 11th with a right hook.

Sergio defended his The Ring title against the No. 1st. Matthew Macklin of Ireland on March 17th, 2012 at the Madison Square Garden in New York City, was the 3 Ring Middleweight champion. Macklin was coming off a good showing against middleweight champion Felix Sturm ahead of his match against Martlin, a fight that many believe Macklin won, but he lost a controversial decision in Germany to Sturm. Macklin threw spirited hooks and jabs that left Martnez behind on the scorecards and left Martnez feeling upbeat, leaving Martnez on the scorecards and leaving Martnez with a sense of urgency. The majority of the Madison Square Garden crowd was pro-Macklin. Sergio Martinez defeated Matthew Macklin by 11th-round KO (The Ring middleweight) on BBC's boxing schedule for 2011. "Itis is a modern day in history" says the author.

Martnez struggled in the first half of the match, with Macklin being able to time Martnez well, which neutralized a large portion of Sergio's offensive attack (and even scored a knock-down on Martnez in the seventh round). Martnez was able to turn the tide in the later rounds by grasping his left hand's range. Macklin's corner took the fight shortly after scoring two knockdowns in the 11th, shortly before the 12th round.

The WBC did not at first want Chávez Jr. to fight Martinez, but it was a tense contest. Even after a unanimous vote to authorize the undefeated champion to face the current title holder, Chávez Jr.'s godfather was the head of WBC and refused to allow the contest.

Martinez trained for the fight against Chavez Jr. in Oxnard, California, under his career long coach Gabriel Sarmiento. On September 15, 2012, Martnez defeated Julio César Chávez Jr. for the WBC Middleweight Championship in Paradise, Nevada. Following a strong showing in the first 11 rounds, Martnez gained unanimous decision after suffering a 12th round knockdown. Both ESPN and the Los Angeles Times published round-by-round news about the war.

Martnez had a successful start to the fight and pulled Chávez out of the first 11 rounds, in dominating fashion. Despite Chávez's moments trapping Martnez in the corner on the ropes, Martnez fought Chávez and used his quick lateral mobility to evade and neutralize Chávez's offensive assault. Chávez stung Martinez in the 12th round, sending him to the ground halfway through the round. Martnez had less than a minute to die in the fight, and rather than clinch or hold on to Chávez, Martnez continued to throw and trade blows with the Mexican. Sergio Martez, despite being drained and clearly wounded, managed to advance to the thrilling 12th round without holding. Martnez gained the fight by unanimous vote, with scores of 117–110, 118–109, and 118–109. Martnez had fractured his left hand (as early as the 4th round) and tore his right meniscus, the latter of which would require surgery.

Chávez tested positive for marijuana after the brawl. As a result, the World Boxing Council suspended him on a $20,000 fine and was indefinitely suspended.

Martnez revealed that his next title defense would take place in Argentina, his first fight in his home country after leaving for Spain in 2002. Martnez may make his first title defense against British fighter Martin Murray on April 27 in Argentina, according to Reuters' news service. Martnez defeated Ring Top 10 Middleweight Martin Murray by a tumultuous unanimous decision. Many observers agreed that Martnez had marked decline since the Chávez Jr. war.

Martnez fight again after a string of setbacks, including more knee replacements, a year after the Murray fight, losing his WBC, The Ringing, and middleweight titles to three-division former world champion Miguel Cotto on June 7, 2014 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Martinez' legs were not there straight away, even with knee braces on and clearly visible, Cotto knocked Martnez down three times in the first round. However, after the first round, he began to make the game competitive with Cotto. He continued to fight back until round nine, when Martnez went down once more. Trainer Pablo Sarmiento called off the match prior to the tenth round when still in the corner, against Martn's instructions. Sarmiento told Martez, "Your knees aren't responding," the diplomat said. Sergio, ohm, look at me... I'm gonna stop this one. Sergio, you are the best for me. Sergio, you'll always be the best champion."

Martnez said he wanted to keep his boxing career and expressed his desire to combat Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. after the match. However, Martnez resigned from boxing at the age of 40 on June 13, 2015, citing both aging and knee injuries as the reasons for his decision.

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