By Rick Reeno
Trainer Jeff Mayweather spoke with BoxingScene.com about last Saturday's fight between Sergio Martinez and Paul Williams. The fight ended shockingly when Martinez used a single left hand to knock Williams out in the second round. Since the win, Martinez is being measured up against the two best pound for pound fighters in the sport, Jeff's nephew Floyd Mayweather Jr., and Manny Pacquiao.
Mayweather believes Martinez is being a bit overrated for last Saturday's win. He says Williams lacks a proper defense and doesn't use his height advanatge, or his 81-inch reach, to win fights. Because of the way Williams fights, it was a knockout waiting to happen.
"Martinez is much physically bigger than both of them, but he's not more skilled than either one of them. He's a very good fighter, but people are giving him too much credit for landing one punch. He's not no devastating puncher. Paul Williams can make everyone [look like] a devastating puncher, if they could punch, because he's a guy with no defense," Mayweather told BoxingScene.com.
"He's 6'2 and fights like he's 5'8. What happened was eventually going to happen because of his style of fighting. He's always in the line of fire. He's a volume puncher and he wins fights by outworking a fighter. He's not technically skilled as a big man should be. At 6'2, he should be using his jab and making everyone work to get to him, and then once they get past him, then drop the left hand on them. But, [instead] he wants to initiate the contact and it's been successful for him, but he was just an accident waiting to happen so I wasn't surprised."
Mayweather doesn't rule out the possibility of Martinez facing Floyd Jr. or Pacquiao in the future.
"He has the physical size difference. I don't think Martinez is a great puncher. I think all of a sudden now, because he beat Kelly Pavlik and now that he beat Williams, especially in this fashion, everyone wants to jump on the bandwagon. That's how boxing is. The next fight, he may look horrible and if he looks horrible - then what are they going to say? You're only as good as your last fight," Mayweather said.
"Right now Martinez is a name that's ringing and making noise. Maybe it's a fight that Floyd will take, or Manny Pacquiao. If Floyd takes it, he would take it at his natural weight because he only walks around at 156-pounds."
