By Rick Reeno

Last Saturday night in Atlantic City, Sergio Martinez finally caught a break with a unanimous twelve round decision over Kelly Pavlik to capture the WBC/WBO middleweight titles. For several years, well-known boxing agent Sampson "Picasso" Lewkowicz was telling me Martinez would one day become a major player in the sport. I admit, I had my doubts. But Lewkowicz knew all along Martinez would rise to the occasion if a big opportunity was presented.

Becoming a major player was a real struggle. Things were not always pleasant for Martinez and his luck hit rock-bottom in 2009.

For most of 2008, and a good portion of 2009, Martinez was doing everything in his power to make a fight with the late Vernon Forrest. Martinez became the mandatory to the WBC junior middleweight title in 2007 and won the WBC's interim title in October of 2008. Last February he fought to a controversial draw with Kermit Cintron. In reality, he knocked Cintron out in the seventh round.

In one of the strangest scenes in the history of boxing, Cintron was knocked down by a clean punch, and counted out, but somehow he was able to convince the referee that he went down from a clash of heads. The referee, Frank Santore Jr., actually bought the story and restarted the fight. In what seemed to be a clear win for Martinez, was somehow ruled a majority draw. The fight with Cintron was viewed as one of the worst decisions of the year.

After years of hunting, Martinez secured a tentative agreement to fight Forrest in the fall of 2009. He thought his dream of landing a major fight was finally achieved, but then tragedy struck when Forrest was murdered on July 25. Martinez was mentally crushed by Forrest's murder. The WBC would later elevate Martinez to the status of full champion - but within a few months the entire junior middleweight division fell apart. Hot prospect James Kirkland was sent to prison on a gun charge. Another hot prospect Alfredo Angulo was upset by Cintron, and WBO champion Sergei Dzinziruk was in limbo with promotional issues.

With his options exhausted at 154-pounds, Martinez moved up to middleweight to answer the call of Paul Williams in December. In a fight-of-the-year-battle, Martinez and Williams traded knockdowns and plenty of punches in a twelve round war. Williams won a close majority decision. In 2010, Martinez's luck began to change. After Pavlik and Paul Williams were unable to see eye to eye on the financial terms, Pavlik and his team turned their full attention on making a fight with Martinez.

After a good start and some shaky moments in the middle rounds, Martinez overwhelmed Pavlik with a high quantity of punches in the championship rounds. Pavlik was bloody mess from two serious cuts on both sides of his face, and Martinez stepped on the gas when he saw an uncontrollable river of red.

After a career filled with struggles, Martinez has a lot of options on the table. The first is a potential rematch with Pavlik, who does have a rematch clause. Following the fight, Pavlik told BoxingScene that he plans to remain at middleweight to fight Martinez again.

Martinez believes Pavlik took a lot of punishment in the late rounds of the fight. Now that he is familiar with Pavlik's style, he feels confident the rematch will not go the distance. He thinks Pavlik, because of his style, will always have issues with fighters who present a lot of movement.

"It would really be a pleasure to fight Pavlik again. If he wants the rematch, I will give him the rematch and this time I believe that I will knock him out. I'm very happy that he wants the fight. I really thought in the tenth round his corner would stop the fight, but Pavlik will never be the same after this beating and for that reason I predict a knockout the next time around," Martinez told BoxingScene.com.

"If he wants to fight me again, it has to be at 160, but nothing will change. There is nothing he can do to avoid the movement and the punishment he will receive the next time. It will be exactly the same. And whether it's 160 or 168, if he fights anybody who moves he won't be able to handle it. He's too mechanical. However, he was a great champion and it will be a pleasure to fight him again."

The other option would be the winner of the upcoming fight between Paul Williams and Kermit Cintron, scheduled for May 8. Martinez doesn't exactly hide the fact that he would rather fight Williams.

"I feel I beat both of them, but Cintron he's meaningless because I knocked him out. I won by KO so, it doesn't excite me as much. I prefer Paul Williams, where a rematch is well deserved. If Cintron beats Williams, I will be happy to knock him out again, but this time with right referee who knows how to count him out," Martinez said.

Martinez gives Cintron a puncher's chance to pull off the upset. Though, he expects Williams to close the show after eight.

"There is possibility [of an upset] because Cintron can really punch. But for me, I see Paul Williams being victorious. Cintron, he punches harder than Williams, but Williams throws a much higher quantity of punches. They may have less power but he throws a much higher quantity of punches. I think after eight, Williams will be victorious by knockout," Martinez said.

For now, Martinez is relaxing and waiting for the next war to come along.

"I'm just waiting for my promoter and HBO to tell me when I'm fighting. I want to thank you and all of the fans for all of the good things they wrote about me on BoxingScene. In the next fight, I promise to give 110% of myself to please the fans. I want to give them a great fight," Martinez said.