By Jake Donovan
There was a point where boxing fans wondered if a true Fight of the Year candidate would ever emerge.
Then came Giovani Segura’s stirring upset knockout of Ivan Calderon. From there, the floodgates were opened, though the fight remains the year’s leading candidate.
In a mundane year for the sport, an even greater concern has been the lack of a standout year from any given fighter.
That could change by early Sunday morning.
More so than the lineal middleweight championship being at stake, this weekend’s championship rematch between Sergio Martinez and Paul Williams could help settle another debate.
No, not the one that still lingers from their fantastic first fight last December, although it’s one of the many fascinating storylines surrounding this weekend’s feature attraction at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City (Saturday, HBO, 10PM ET).
But there’s also the matter of the Fighter of the Year race. Depending on Saturday night’s outcome, the race could either open up for discussion or very well be decided on the spot.
There have been plenty of solid campaigns in 2010, but none that immediately emerge from the pack as one that fans have no choice but to point to as the absolute leader of the pack.
For much of the first half of the year, Sergio Martinez (45-2-2, 24KO) was as close as there was to being that guy.
His dismantling of long reigning middleweight king Kelly Pavlik earlier this year helped breathe life into a division that had long ago lost its swagger. Pavlik’s reign lasted for more than 2½ years, but peaked with his off-the-canvas knockout win over Jermain Taylor to win the crown and managed to underwhelm every step of the way afterward.
With Martinez’ late surge and bloodying and butchering of Pavlik in their April fight came a much-needed changing of the guard and quite possibly the most significant win of the year to that point.
The breakout performance was a long time coming for Martinez, long regarded as one of boxing’s best-kept secrets.
The southpaw boxer-puncher was given some shine in late 2008 by cable giant HBO. His network debut was impressive enough – a systematic eight-round thrashing of a resurging Alex Bunema. However, 2009 was anything but kind to the transplanted Argentinean.
First came his February ’09 draw with Kermit Cintron in a fight many quipped he was robbed of two wins in one night. An officiating gaffe deprived him of a seventh round knockout win, only to have the screws put to him once the final scorecards read, as two judges somehow couldn’t find more than five rounds to give to the silky smooth southpaw.
Ten months later, Martinez managed to wade through the sports politics – like being kept off of TV and out of the ring for ten months – and receive an opportunity as a pinch-hitter for the oft-injured Pavlik in a December showdown with Williams.
The fight was an instant classic, with both fighters hitting the deck in the opening round, and then spending the next eleven trading punches and momentum in a bout many hailed as the very best of 2009.
The final outcome ultimately went to Williams via majority decision in a fight that everyone except disgraced judge Pierre Benoist saw as close and worthy of long-term debate.
Martinez’ stock skyrocketed in defeat, with many believing he was once again on the wrong end of a questionable verdict. Some even quipped that he had as great of a 12-month campaign as you can possibly have without actually officially winning a fight.
There have been no such issues this year, to date. His breakthrough performance against Pavlik was so decisive that not even a mid-round knockdown could get in the way of what easily rates as the biggest win of his 13-year career.
That it’s been such a disinteresting year (even with the strong finish, at least on paper) allows Martinez to remain in the hunt despite the Pavlik fight being his only ring appearance of 2010. But once again came the epic struggle to convince the network brass that he was worthy of TV time, regardless of who’s standing in the other corner.
Because of that, Martinez was forced to give ground to fighters such as Giovanni Segura, Juan Manuel Lopez, Fernando Montiel and Jean Pascal in the search to crown a Fighter of the Year. So much that his hand was forced in order to get back into the ring and on television.
Despite his entering the ring this weekend as the defending middleweight champion of the world, Martinez is not permitted to weigh any more than 158 pounds, two below the divisional limit.
It was the last point of contention for him to finally once again get Williams – and in effect, himself – into the ring.
The hope is that it’s a small price to pay for the ultimate payoff, which with a win comes in spades.
A Martinez win on Saturday means a notable successful middleweight title defense, something the sport hasn’t seen in more than three years.
A Martinez win on Saturday means revenge against the man who arguably stole one from him 11 months ago.
Finally, a Martinez win on Saturday gives boxing fans a definitive choice for 2010’s Fighter of The Year.
SIZING UP THE REST OF THE COMPETITION, SHOULD MARTINEZ LOSE
Of course, there stands the great chance that Paul Williams (39-1, 27KO) leaves Atlantic City with the prestigious middleweight crown in tow. After all, he currently owns scoreboard over Martinez. Regardless of how one scored the bout, there’s no debating that Tall Paul proved his worth as one of the best middleweights in the world.
That said, a Williams win this weekend doesn’t necessarily sew up Fighter of the Year honors, though it does ignite one hell of a debate.
Williams beating Martinez would be far more notable than just about anyone else’s best win this year. The problem with hailing the beanpole southpaw as this year’s best is the fact that his lone other ring appearance in 2010 was among the year’s worst moments.
Everyone involved in his fight with Kermit Cintron ultimately lost. The aborted affair was a stinker from the opening bell, and ended in disgrace when Cintron ejected from the ring following a mid-ring stumble with Williams.
Williams escaped with a split decision win in a fight that was scored all over the place after just four rounds, but to call anyone a winner that night would be a disservice to the word.
That leaves this weekend as the best chance for the South Carolina native to plead his case.
It’s not out of the question, although you’ll have to ask yourself how well a single win over Martinez stacks up against the other remaining candidates.
Juan Manuel Lopez is done for the year, but boasts stoppage wins over three consensus Top 10 featherweights in 2010.
The Puerto Rican southpaw moved up in weight to dethrone titlist Steven Luevano to start the year. Six months later, he traded knockdowns with Bernabe Concepcion before blasting him out in two rounds. Earlier this month, he emerged victorious in a back-and-forth war with Rafael Marquez before forcing the Mexican to quit on his stool after eight rounds, citing a shoulder injury.
Giovani Segura is one of two candidates who still has time to add to his resume. The diminutive slugger faces contender Manuel “Chango” Vargas on November 27, marking the first defense of the lineal junior flyweight crown he acquired with his sensational eighth round knockout of Ivan Calderon in a fight that will be well represented come awards time.
Should Segura win by knockout (as if he knows any other way), he will have went 4-0 with 4 KO’s in 2010, including his aforementioned dethroning of previously unbeaten and long-reigning champion Calderon. That it’s rare for top fighters to step in the ring more than twice a year these days will make his run that sensational, even more so when significance is entered into the equation.
For the moment, Segura’s three knockouts in as many fights matches the 2010 campaign of his countryman Fernando Montiel, who has enjoyed as great of a bounce back year as anyone else in the sport. His 2009 campaign ended in disaster, relying on shady officiating to avoid a knockout loss to Alejandro Valdez, but suffering enough facial damage to have to withdraw from a planned title defense against Eric Morel.
Then came 2010, a year in which the historically inconsistent boxer-puncher finally put it altogether. His biggest win by far was his rally-from-behind knockout win over long-reigning de facto bantamweight leader Hozumi Hasegawa, scoring the upset win in Japan to unify two alphabet belts.
All told, Montiel has three knockouts in as many fights in 2010. There was a shot at one more before an untimely motorcycle accident put him on the shelf for the remainder of the year.
The darkhorse in the race is Jean Pascal, whose lone fight of the year was a gem as he outhustled a lethargic Chad Dawson en route to a shocking technical decision win in their August light heavyweight championship bout.
The transplanted Haitian has the honors of partaking in the last significant match of 2010, when he makes the first defense of his lineal crown against legendary former middleweight king Bernard Hopkins. Even at Hopkins’ advanced age and being in the twilight of his career, there’s something to be said of the significance of beating him, especially in impressive fashion.
In some ways, it might be a little more interesting should Williams repeat this weekend, as it gives us four more weeks to debate this very topic.
IF YOU WISHED IT, THEN ACCEPT THE CONSEQUENCES
Even more of a nuisance than those who for months expressed outrage over Antonio Margarito’s hitting the lottery with a major payday for a fight with Manny Pacquiao, were those very same people expressing sympathy and concern upon hearing the news of his being hospitalized following the beating he caught last weekend.
For months, hordes of fans, boxing personalities and even many writers referred to the disgraced former welterweight champion as everything short of the devil himself.
There were even some writers who tried to justify the matchup as fans being rewarded should the odds hold true and Pacquiao hand the Mexican a career-worst – and perhaps a career-ending – beating.
Those very same detractors cheered throughout last weekend’s pay-per-view event, going on record expressing their glee over Margarito’s face being turned into hamburger meat with each passing round.
By night’s end, it was revealed that in addition to all of the visible facial damage that he also suffered a fractured orbital bone.
In short, he received everything that far too many wished upon him.
So why the sympathy? Pacquiao gave you exactly what you wanted, what you wished for.
Chalk it up to an epic lesson in being careful what you wish for, I suppose.
Hopefully those same outspoken experts will choose their words more carefully before going the self-righteous route, although commentary throughout the industry and social networks already suggest nary a lesson has been learned.
ETC…
This weekend’s headliner on HBO will be preceded by the exclusive replay of last weekend’s pay-per-view headliner, which means that fans on the East Coast – whether in attendance or staying at home to watch on TV – shouldn’t expect Williams and Martinez to enter the ring anytime before 11PM ET. It also effectively means that anyone who still reads the newspapers shouldn’t hold their breath hoping to find the result in the Sunday edition of East Coast print publications…
An interesting non-televised under card includes: former lineal light heavyweight champion Zsolt Erdei, who makes his stateside debut as well as his first ring appearance since signing with DiBella Entertainment; and rising middleweight prospect Fernando Guerrero, perhaps the only bonafide ticket seller on the card. The hard-hitting Dominican has become such a cult favorite that there is a specific section marked off for the hundreds of fans making the trek from his adopted hometown of Salisbury, Maryland…
Among a collection of the greatest crop of writers in the sport today, let it be said that our Monday featured columnist David Greisman is to boxing scribes what The Wire was to television – sheer brilliance, but receiving only a fraction of the credit he deserves as one of the very best in the game. Anyone who doesn’t stop what they’re doing every Monday morning to take in his “Fighting Words” column doesn’t know what they are missing. The 10 Count alone is worth the price of admission…
In his two ring appearances of 2010, Pacquiao has pulled in more than 83,500 fans in attendance (assuming this weekend’s attendance total isn’t as fictitious as the 51,000 tally that was floated for his March fight with Joshua Clottey). If pay-per-view projections hold true, then those same two events will have also raked in nearly 2 million units sold. But before we use those numbers (as well as the 1.5 million buys for Floyd Mayweather-Shane Mosley) as proof that the sport is thriving, please bear this in mind: it’s possible that the crowd on hand for last weekend’s event at Cowboys Stadium exceeds the combined total of every televised stateside card included in the stretch run we are currently amongst – to include the pair of November 6 shows on HBO and Showtime, which each barely drew in attendance. Yes, we can still sell the big event. It’s the rest of the sport that remains a tough sell for the paying public.
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com and an award-winning member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Contact Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com