By Bill Emes
Lou DiBella, promoter for middleweight Sergio Martinez (48-2-2, 27KOs), spoke with BoxingScene.com to explain the current status of his negotiations to make a fall fight between Martinez and WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (45-0-1, 31KOs). Martinez became the mandatory challenger at last December's WBC convention in Las Vegas. Chavez is planning to defend his title against British challenger Martin Murray on June 16th in El Paso, Texas.
According to the Chavez camp, a date of September 15th has been placed on hold for a fight with Martinez. DiBella is willing to have Martinez step aside, which he also did in February when Chavez decisioned Marco Antonio Rubio - but only under two conidtions. DiBella says the two sides would have to sign a contract for a fall fight - and Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum would have to deposit a sum of money in escrow to ensure the fall clash happen.
"Chavez is going to fight Murray and I'm going to talk to Bob to see if there is a real possibility that they'll fight in September or not. But if he does fight Murray, he should be stripped before that. However, if Bob is willing to make a deal where we will sign on the dotted line, and he will put money in escrow - because I don't believe Chavez is ever fighting Sergio," DiBella told BoxingScene.com.
"So let them put some money in an account and he gets to keep his belt and fight Murray, but if the fight doesn't happen in the fall - then the money in the account, half a million dollars or whatever, will go to Sergio. [If they do that], then we would say 'okay we'll step aside again'.......if we were getting that opportunity in September or October and there was money in the bank. I have no faith that they are going to make the fight. I'm going to try to talk to Bob on Monday or Tuesday."
