By Cliff Rold
There are titles, and then there are titles.
In the annals of boxing, in part for reasons of longevity, brand, and memories created, the Middleweight Championship of the World arguably resides just behind the Heavyweight crown as boxing’s most prestigious honor. From the days of ‘The Nonpareil” Jack Dempsey on through Harry Greb, Freddie Steele, Marvin Hagler, and Bernard Hopkins, the Middleweight honors have almost always mattered.
The pride in the eyes of Sergio Martinez (45-2-2, 24 KO) on Saturday night spoke to how much they still do. Lots of belts can be won in the modern boxing game, but when someone wins the real Middleweight championship of the world, they know it. That’s what Martinez won on Saturday night in Atlantic City, the latest in the line re-established by Hopkins almost a decade ago.
It was the second of two strong performances on HBO’s broadcast. IBF Super Middleweight titlist Lucian Bute (26-0, 21 KO) still has some proving to do before he can truly claim to be the champion at 168 lbs., and the huge obstacle of a “Super Six” tournament he’s not in impeding that. However, in a ‘make the most of what is’ sense, Bute again had a statement performance on HBO.
That statement? Tournament be damned. He might not be able to prove the very best, but the best can’t be crowned without him right now either.
Let’s go the report cards.
Grades
Pre-Fight: Speed – Pavlik B; Martinez A/Post: Same
Pre-Fight: Power – Pavlik B+; Martinez B/Post: Same
Pre-Fight: Defense – Pavlik B-; Martinez B/Post: Pavlik B; Martinez B+
Pre-Fight: Intangibles – Pavlik B+; Martinez A/Post: Pavlik B; Martinez A
Grades
Pre-Fight: Speed – Bute A-; Miranda B/Post: Same
Pre-Fight: Power – Bute A-; Miranda A/Post: Same
Pre-Fight: Defense – Bute B+; Miranda C-/Post: Same
Pre-Fight: Intangibles – Bute A; Miranda B/Post: Same
Beginning with Martinez, his display in Atlantic City was a little bit of everything that makes a professional prize fight interesting. This scribe having picked Kelly Pavlik (36-2, 32 KO) to win and retain the Middleweight title, the quick knockdown suffered by Martinez and the Pavlik rally in the middle portion, it all seemed to be going to script.
Martinez was too quick, too slick, early but the size and pressure of the champion was starting to tell.
Yeah. Not so much.
Round nine of this contest is one which should be remembered for a long time. Martinez found a second and then third gear and it was game over. Having fought off his back foot for most of the previous few rounds, Martinez planted and started moving hard into his shots. It worked. He outlanded Pavlik by around a 3-1 margin, mangled his face, and if Pavlik ever really tried to win again after that it was missed.
He did try to win during the middle third of the contest, and took his pasting like a man through to the final bell. For that Pavlik deserves credit. In Martinez, it was assumed he’d struggle with the speed and movement but in the rounds he lost (and there were no fewer than eight, maybe nine), it was Martinez’s offensive audacity that told the tale.
In Canada, the challenger was equally audacious but in a bad way. Edison Miranda (33-5, 29 KO) had been knocked out twice before Saturday. He was facing a Bute coming off a knockout of iron chinned Librado Andrade. In a move reminiscent of Felix Trinidad-Ricardo Mayorga, Miranda preened and mocked Bute after a couple hard shots, egging him on to throw more.
Bute did.
The left uppercut he landed will make Miranda a permanent part of his highlight reel and a third round TKO victim. Now, a case could be made that Miranda could have gone on but the challenger didn’t complain so it really didn’t matter. Prior to that, Miranda had shown some of the technical improvement his trainer, Joe Goosen, had been quoted about in the lead to the fight. He jabbed more and Miranda showed good, reflexive defensive moves.
Just not for very long. Bute conversely showed that he has grown as a titlist, reaching the point where he’s blowing out the foes that are not on his level. What about those who are on his level?
Looking Ahead
Unfortunately for Bute, he’ll be waiting to get those foes on his slate. Andre Ward, Andre Dirrell, Carl Froch, Arthur Abraham, Mikkel Kessler, Allan Green…all would be outstanding foes.
All are tied up in the Super Six. For Bute, that doesn’t mean there are no fights at 168. If it could be arranged, a unification with WBO titlist Robert Stieglitz would at least be, well, unification. If Pavlik chooses ultimately not to pursue a Martinez rematch, given all the HBO relationships, Bute-Pavlik could be viable a rebuilding win or two down the road. Anyone who has seen the crowds Bute pulls can only imagine what a Pavlik-level name could do in Montreal.
And, of course, there is the obligatory mention that if WBC Light Heavyweight titlist Jean Pascal successfully defends versus Chad Dawson this summer, there is always Bute-Pascal at, say, Olympic Stadium in Montreal? Dreaming out loud…
Back down a division, Pavlik is clearly not done and stated after the fight he would take a contract allowed rematch. It’s his right, and there was enough competition in the fight to think he could do better. The problem is he could also do worse and, if he’s struggling to make weight as much as seems evident, squeezing down to 160 again and getting laced might shorten his career.
No one should want that. Pavlik is still exciting, still makes good T.V., and lost with dignity like a man. Pavlik at Super Middleweight seems the right choice.
As to Martinez: welcome to the Middleweight pantheon. He might not, probably won’t, ever get his name into the upper stratosphere of 160 lb. history. No matter. No listing of the real Middleweight champions can be made without him and that’s an accomplishment.
There could be a downside in the foreseeable future. Martinez is 35 and, while he looks fresh for his age, ‘it’ could always go quickly. Enjoyed while he’s here, there could be a Pavlik rematch. There should definitely be a rematch with Paul Williams.
While not the champion at Middleweight, Williams can officially claim to be the uncrowned king. It was only last December, in a Middleweight fight, that Williams traded knockdowns with Martinez en route to a close decision in a classic. Last week, Martinez’s promoter Lou DiBella was quoted saying he might not be keen to make that rematch immediately if his man won.
His man won.
Now the question is how long the world shall wait. ‘Not in the next fight’ would be a fair answer; any longer would stink.
It’s ironic. Throughout 2009, the hype was about Pavlik-Williams and the world got Williams-Martinez instead. Now Pavlik has fallen and if the world gets the rematch it will want, not having had Pavlik-Williams will seem no loss at all.
Report Card Picks 2010: 12-3
Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com
