Sergio Martinez Legacy

[AddiX]

I really liked Sergio, was great for the sport, to bad the steroids ate up the ligaments in his knee, he probably would have fought GGG eventually.

He was a guy willing to test himself.

[Kazakh Thunder]

what immediately goes to mind when you hear the name?

He was a top fighter during the peak of my interest in watching boxing.

He aint got 1.

See #3

Boxers that ducked/ducking GGG

1---Felix sturm - wouldn't fight him for over 2 years when GGG was mandatory.

2---Peter quillin - said he will only fight for the may-pac kind of money, lol + he flew to Haymon to avoid GGG

3---Sergio martinez - "His promoter said that "no way I am putting him with this monster", GGG kept calling him out after his U.S. debut after every fight

4---Miguel cotto - ducked his mandatory(GGG) twice by fighting Geale and Canelo

5---Julio cesar chavez jr - Turned down 12mil offer by TR

6---Saul alvarez - Avoided his mando(GGG). Thinks that he is fighting at the weight-class of 155, as there is no such thing as a "155 weight-class" ,he is pretending to be not in the MW division because of GGG.There are 17 divisions just pick one, if you can't make 154 then you are a MW, simple.

7---Carl froch - After calling GGG out then when GGG accepted ,he backed down and now he is retired after making all the fuss, + GGG was calling him for more than a year b4 he was retired so no excuses for "retiring".

8---Andrea Ward - The diva of the 168lb division don't want to travel or meet the a-side GGG in a catchweight so he can become a good boy and get ktfo. Was willing to goto 160 for Floyd but when GGG said 164, Ward ducked + he was fine when Dawson came down a whole division for him but wont move half a division for GGG, smh

9---Billy joe Saunders - Even before winning the WBO title from Lee his fear of Golovkin was as biright as day this is just one of many interviews(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJuwAz-ekoQ), then after winning it he priced himslef out at 6 mil$. Then turned down $3.2mill offer from k-2(its 2.2 gbp so I converted)

10---Hassaan ndam njikam -When Hassaan was WBO champ, he was ordered to a purse bid to face Golovkin no less than two times and he was a no show each time.

11---Darren Barker - When Barker defeated Geale to become IBF champ, his promoter openly said that Barker will fight any1 except GGG

[_original_]

Very talented boxer who was athletically gifted and had a nice MW run. People forget he was even ducked by Vernon Forrest (RIP) a while back and didn't hit the bright lights until the Williams fights.


He would have torched Cotto if he was healthy btw.

[ippo]

Didn't Martinez beat Cintron like 3x in the same fight and still ended up with a draw? lol

Yeah he knocked out the frog,fight got restarted and some how it ended up as a draw.

[Chrismart]

I always enjoyed watching Martinez fight. I enjoyed his style.

His fights with Pavlik, Williams and Chavez were stand outs for me.

[ippo]

Didn't Martinez beat Cintron like 3x in the same fight and still ended up with a draw? lol

He was a brilliant fighter, although not truly up to the hype that surrounded him (Cotto proved that). In his heyday, Sergio was equal to GGG's current level of hype. Personally, I saw through that, because his level of competition just wasn't on par with the best in the sport (similar to GGG's situation, although Martinez faced better opposition than GGG has). Nevertheless, fighters like Paul Williams were themselves mostly hype, so it was clear the situation would be different up against an elite. Of course, there's always the "Ghost," but we all knew his personal issues.

Either way, Cotto was a bad match-up for Martinez. Cotto destroys anybody who doesn't have some sort of extraordinary attribute(s) to keep him at bay. Examples are Pacquiao's strength, speed, and angles, Mayweather's speed, Margarito's plaster, and Canelo's rehydration size (although I believe Cotto beat Canelo). Martinez's attribute was movement, and that is Cotto's game. Miguel isn't Chavez; he was going to land his bombs.

And, yes, yes, I know about the knee. But everyone has injuries. Even Cotto has a bad right arm due to a traffic accident, which broke it in several places. And anyway, even in a prime-vs-prime match-up, I always thought Cotto would win. Everyone laughed at me over that (GGG-level-hype), but I knew what would happen.

Anyhow, Martinez still has to be respected. He's one of my favorite fighters ever. I mean, c'mon, a southpaw that moved like that? With that kind of power and technique? It's at least Zab Judah-level ability. And Zab is probably in my top 10 all-time favorites.

The guy could barely move in the cotto fight. Here is a quote “I was on crutches for a long time. Until December, I was walking on crutches. I was struggling. I used crutches since my surgery on October 31 until December 18. During all that time I was unable to lean on my right leg at all.”

The guy couldn't even walk 6 months before the fight.He was lucky to even be cleared to fight.His body was broken and fought just for one last pay check.

[_Maxi]

A cripple wouldn't have been allowed to fight. That joke is getting old. Martinez himself wouldn't have fought had he really been crippled. Who would want to take a beating, if they don't truly think they can win? And, again, everyone has injuries. Cotto has a badly broken right arm with a titanium plate in it. I'm not implying anything other than all fighters go through and have injuries. It is what it is. Cotto does what he can with his arm. This is sports.

Martinez is still wearing protection on the knee... two years after the fight. His knees are really ****ed up. You pretend like it's a minor injury lol. He also was rusty, one year outside of the ring.

[ippo]

Martinez is still wearing protection on the knee... two years after the fight. His knees are really ****ed up. You pretend like it's a minor injury lol. He also was rusty, one year outside of the ring.

He wears them on both knees.His knees are really ****ed up.Cotto fans treat the win as if he beat some legend.The guy fought one last time for the paycheck.His body was already done.

[SunSpace]

My intention is not to ignore the impact of Sergio's injury; it's just that I don't buy into it the same way others do. While I recognize that his injury played a role in his performance, I don't believe it was as severe as a lot of other posters think. I simply disagree on that front.

In my opinion, Martinez made such a big deal out of the knee situation because he discovered it was a weapon he could use to trash-talk Cotto. Let's not forget that Martinez was the one who eventually started the whole "diva" nickname, out of all random things. The trash-talk came off as if Martinez were merely interested in hitting Cotto however he could, and then he toned it down with confidence later on (Tyson Fury-esque).

In other words, yes, I believe the knee played a role, but not for one second do I buy that Martinez fought "crippled" or unable to perform to a degree well enough for victory. Let's also not forget that, even with the injury, most experts still picked Martinez to win. It wasn't until Cotto embarrassed him that this whole "crippled" exaggeration appeared.

If Martinez had been in such a desperate state for money, don't you think he would've kept fighting, even after Cotto? Your theories assume that Martinez was willing to sell his pride and career in exchange for a paycheck, that he'd be willing to give all he had worked for away instead of retiring. I don't believe it. Fighters who are that desperate generally continue to fight, even after losing (think Roy Jones, Mosley). So, I'm supposed to believe that Martinez knew he couldn't perform, and therefore gave his lineal championship away, all because his Cotto-fight paycheck solved everything? Doubt it.

What I've been trying to get at is that, in sports, every single athlete has to deal with injuries (sometimes permanent) that affect their performance. Anyone who has followed Cotto knows that his right arm pales in comparison to the left, not because of power necessarily but awkward delivery (obviously due to the broken bones and titanium plate insertion). It's almost like he's a one-handed fighter half the time, because it could be argued that his right arm holds him back significantly, practically working against him on occasions. I doubt anyone here can, seriously, tell me that Cotto's career hasn't been significantly affected by that accident. It is what it is.

To make my argument current and show how it relates to other sports in general, just look at the NBA finals right now. It's obvious that Curry has serious ankle/knee issues. He shouldn't be playing, but he is. Curry could be taking years off his career right now, but it's about performance. Every athlete has serious issues going on but, at the end of the day, they either perform, or they don't. Curry just performed. Sport is merciless. It will not care for Cotto's broken arm, Curry's ankles, nor will it care for Sergio's knee issues.

You're all allowed to make an argument for Martinez winning a fight in a prime-vs-prime match-up, of course, but, as the real fight itself proves, there is a strong possibility that Cotto could have won that match-up, as well. To act like a prime Martinez would've just destroyed a prime Cotto not only ignores reality, but also puts Martinez's integrity into question. Not to mention that no one here knows what kind of fighter Cotto would've become had he himself not been assaulted with plaster. Never thought of that? Do I get to re-write history because it wasn't fair that this happened to Cotto? Nope. All I have is Cotto, as is, facing young, prime fighters like Canelo. It is what it is.

[daggum]

My intention is not to ignore the impact of Sergio's injury; it's just that I don't buy into it the same way others do. While I recognize that his injury played a role in his performance, I don't believe it was as severe as a lot of other posters think. I simply disagree on that front.

In my opinion, Martinez made such a big deal out of the knee situation because he discovered it was a weapon he could use to trash-talk Cotto. Let's not forget that Martinez was the one who eventually started the whole "diva" nickname, out of all random things. The trash-talk came off as if Martinez were merely interested in hitting Cotto however he could, and then he toned it down with confidence later on (Tyson Fury-esque).

In other words, yes, I believe the knee played a role, but not for one second do I buy that Martinez fought "crippled" or unable to perform to a degree well enough for victory. Let's also not forget that, even with the injury, most experts still picked Martinez to win. It wasn't until Cotto embarrassed him that this whole "crippled" exaggeration appeared.

If Martinez had been in such a desperate state for money, don't you think he would've kept fighting, even after Cotto? Your theories assume that Martinez was willing to sell his pride and career in exchange for a paycheck, that he'd be willing to give all he had worked for away instead of retiring. I don't believe it. Fighters who are that desperate generally continue to fight, even after losing (think Roy Jones, Mosley). So, I'm supposed to believe that Martinez knew he couldn't perform, and therefore gave his lineal championship away, all because his Cotto-fight paycheck solved everything? Doubt it.

What I've been trying to get at is that, in sports, every single athlete has to deal with injuries (sometimes permanent) that affect their performance. Anyone who has followed Cotto knows that his right arm pales in comparison to the left, not because of power necessarily but awkward delivery (obviously due to the broken bones and titanium plate insertion). It's almost like he's a one-handed fighter half the time, because it could be argued that his right arm holds him back significantly, practically working against him on occasions. I doubt anyone here can, seriously, tell me that Cotto's career hasn't been significantly affected by that accident. It is what it is.

To make my argument current and show how it relates to other sports in general, just look at the NBA finals right now. It's obvious that Curry has serious ankle/knee issues. He shouldn't be playing, but he is. Curry could be taking years off his career right now, but it's about performance. Every athlete has serious issues going on but, at the end of the day, they either perform, or they don't. Curry just performed. Sport is merciless. It will not care for Cotto's broken arm, Curry's ankles, nor will it care for Sergio's knee issues.

You're all allowed to make an argument for Martinez winning a fight in a prime-vs-prime match-up, of course, but, as the real fight itself proves, there is a strong possibility that Cotto could have won that match-up, as well. To act like a prime Martinez would've just destroyed a prime Cotto not only ignores reality, but also puts Martinez's integrity into question. Not to mention that no one here knows what kind of fighter Cotto would've become had he himself not been assaulted with plaster. Never thought of that? Do I get to re-write history because it wasn't fair that this happened to Cotto? Nope. All I have is Cotto, as is, facing young, prime fighters like Canelo. It is what it is.

yes that's exactly what we are doing. he took the fight because he wanted millions of dollars. he admitted he could barely walk after losing and retired with his millions. unfortunately people paying for this farce didn't know that at the time and got duped. no integrity but a lot of money.