By Rick Reeno
Promoter Lou DiBella, and adviser Sampson Lewkowicz, informed BoxingScene.com that WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (51-2-2, 28KOs) has no problem facing WBA/IBO champion Gennady Golovkin (27-0, 24KOs) in 2014.
Martinez suffered multiple injuries in April's decision win over undefeated Martin Murray. Because of the length of the necessary rehabilitation, Martinez will not fight again until the first half of 2014.
"Sergio Martinez reached out to Sampson and me today. He said that history will show that he has embraced every challenge available to him in his career. His legacy will be that he was always willing to fight the best. Right now, his concentration is on healing and rehabilitation and he will not fight until sometime in the first half of 2014. He wanted to make it clear that he is willing to fight Gennady Golovkin in the future. Any conversations now about timing would be premature and inappropriate," DiBella told BoxingScene.com.
Golovkin is scheduled to fight again on an HBO televised date in November. Lewkowicz agrees with DiBella, that Golovkin will not be Martinez's return opponent in 2014. However, if everything goes well in Martinez's return, then there is a high probability that Golovkin will be the opponent in the following fight.
Before they make a deal to face Golovkin, DiBella and Lewkowicz want Martinez to shake off any potential rust, and evaluate if his injuries properly healed. They want Martinez at 100% when entering the fight with Golovkin.
"I was with Martinez the whole weekend in Mexico. He told me that he is still the number one fighter at 160 and has no problem facing [Golovkin]. He has never said no to anyone. But the problem is that he is having his rehabilitation now, and he needs to take his time. Most likely, after almost one year without a fight, [Golovkin] will not be the first fight back but the next one. To beat this guy Martinez needs to be at 100%, and he will beat him. He will beat him because Golovkin is very strong but never faced anyone like Martinez," Lewkowicz told BoxingScene.com.
"Sergio Martinez he fought many great fighters, like Kelly Pavlik, Paul Williams, Sergei Dzinziruk - and none of them were the same after Sergio beat them. Even Kermit Cintron, who went to a draw with Martinez, was never the same. Because after a hard loss, a fighter is sometimes never the same. Martinez is very happy to face Golovkin, because he wants to prove that he is the number one pound-for-pound fighter [in the world]. Martinez has never refused to fight anyone and this will not be the case here."
Golovkin impressed a lot of experts by demolishing Matthew Macklin in three rounds on Saturday night. Martinez also stopped Macklin, in March of 2012, in the eleventh round of a tough fight.
Lewkowicz believes Macklin never fully recovered from the beating he took from Martinez and needed more time before facing Golovkin. During the pre-fight promotion, Macklin did admit that he preferred to take an interim fight before facing someone like Golovkin - but HBO applied a lot of pressure to get the fight done sooner than later.
"Martinez took Macklin to the eleventh round and took his heart out. He had nothing left. Look at the history, what happened with Kelly Pavlik, what happened with Paul Williams, what happened with Sergei Dzinziruk - they were never the same. You tell me, should there be anything different with this Irish guy? And [Darren] Barker, it will be the same with him. On Saturday, Golovkin fought a 'good boy' but when he gets in the ring with Martinez he will be facing a great man. K2 Promotions, they might have the "Triple G" but me and Lou DiBella have the "Triple A."