By Chris Robinson
While lineal middleweight champion Sergio Martinez continued his winnings ways this past Saturday night, stopping a game-but-outgunned Matthew Macklin after ten rounds of action inside of The Theatre at Madison Square Garden, his performance left a little to be desired.
Getting off to a slow start and even having a knockdown called against him in the seventh round, Martinez saw the contest very close on the scorecards just before his late-round heroics where he dropped a bloodied Macklin twice in the tenth.
Speaking with Las Vegas-based trainer Jeff Mayweather earlier today to get his take on the action, he wasn’t too quick to diss Martinez’s performance, pointing to how much of an enigma his England foe was to American audiences.
“You can never really say, because I never really knew anything about the guy before the fight,” stated Mayweather. “And once you’re fighting somebody that nobody really knows, nobody really knows if that person can fight or not. He had a reputation of being tough and he was a guy that came to fight.”
Martinez fights at a high-energy style, constantly moving around the ring and throwing awkward punches from all angles. And while it has been working for Martinez thus far, for Mayweather it’s far from easy on the eyes watching him ply his respective trade.
“Of course his style is wack to me,” Jeff stated. “I’m just being honest. He can do that with certain fighters but he can’t do that with everyone. And the thing is, his strengths are that he doesn’t get tired, he’ll probably be strong throughout the whole entire fight. Style-wise, I don’t like his style at all.”
Martinez has been pushing for a fight with Mexican superstar Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. for quite some time now and has also expressed interest in a move back down in weight to face undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr., who presently has a May 5th assignment with Miguel Cotto lined up.
And while Jeff can see some of the advantages lying in Martinez’s favor, he ultimately gives a big edge to his nephew.
“The thing is, to be honest, Floyd walks around at about 154 pounds,” Jeff continued. “This guy walks around at 180 pounds. Realistically, to fight this guy, even if he’s fighting at 150, I think Floyd would beat him anyway. Especially if he fights like that, having his hands down, Floyd would tag him all night. He’s nowhere near as fast as Floyd .”
Martinez turned 37 last month and you never know how much he has left in his tank. It’s obvious that he is pushing for the most lucrative fights available at this point and Mayweather doesn’t blame him.
“Basically he’s trying to make a business decision, a career decision,” stated Mayweather.
“He’s 37 years old. You never know when, all of a sudden, 37 becomes 97. There are a few fighters who can defy age, but when you’re talking about being in with the best fighter in the world, I think age becomes a factor. The truth is, Floyd’s just a little younger but Floyd has that experience. Just the way Floyd fights, they’re at two different levels.”
Not wanting to rip on Martinez too much, Mayweather finished up by offering some respect to the Argentinean.
“You have to take your hat off to the guy; he started boxing late and he excelled quick and now he’s one of the best fighters in the world. That speaks volumes about him. For a guy who started boxing at twenty years old, he was a natural. And I commend him for that,” Jeff added
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Chris Robinson is based out of Las Vegas, Nevada. He can be reached at Trimond@aol.com