By Michael Marley
Manny Steward makes no bones about it.
His St. Patrick's celebration won't be complete unless his Irish Andy Lee fights and beats sensational slugger Sergio Martinez.
The Kronk Gym Godfather was supposed to be in heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko's corner Saturday night in Germany against lightly-regarded British challenger Dereck Chisora but the champ suffered an injury and the title bout was canceled.
I spoke to Steward after his flight from Europe hit the tarmac in Detroit and Steward repeated his great interest in having his hard-hitting Irish southpaw fight lefthanded middleweight champion Martinez.
Steward stayed on the sidelines as a possible Miguel Cotto-Martinez bout was discussed by the Martinez camp and Cotto promoter Bob Arum. Steward, of course, is Cotto's trainer.
But those talks blew up and Lou DiBella and Steward are back on the same page as to Lee-Martinez especially where DiBella knows a WBC mandatory bout for the Argentinean against unkown Sebastian "Eye Chart" Zbik is a tough sell to HBO.
"They may think Andy will be an easy fight for Sergio but that's not the case. We want the fight, especially in New York around St. Patrick's Day. Andy can move a lot of tickets and he'll be competitive with Sergio. Andy can knock anyone out with his power."
Steward explained that Lee's Klitschko-Chisora undercard was scratched because of Wlad's injury and said they have no obligation for 2011 rematch against Byran Lee Vera, only man to beat Lee in the pro ranks. Since that TKO 7, Lee has reeled off nine successive victories.
"I never signed that contract," Steward said, "so there is no issue."
Steward, who is also an HBO commentator, thinks Martinez has earned the right to next fight almost anyone coming off back to back victories over Kelly Pavlik and Paul Williams.
"Look at Sergio's last four fights, all tough opponents. He had that first fight with Paul which he lost on a controverial decision and, before that, a majority draw against Kermit Cintron," Steward said.
Lee, standing 6-2 and age 26, is four inches taller and nine years younger than Martinez.
Switching gears, Steward said he believes the Wladimir-Chisora date will be reset "unless there is a surprise, unless David Haye decides to step up."
Steward said he thinks the Jan. 29 Devon Alexander-Tim Bradley HBO bout at the out of mothballs Silverdome in Pontiac, Mich., will have a tough time moving tickets.
"Detroit is not a boxing town," Steward said. "Detroit was a Kronk town and the people bought tickets to see the hometown guys, Tommy Hearns and all the rest of them. They don't know Alexander or Bradley.
"But the Silverdome people wanted HBO, they wanted publicity and they will get it. They put up a nice site fee for that and they got the fight. It's a good fight but you got two out of town guys fighting."
Steward said that Don King, who promotes St. Louis resident Alexander, should remember when he did a Leon Spinks-Larry Holmes heavyweight title bout in the Motown.
"Don was surprised they got only about 8,000 people but I had told him that the city was a Kronk town, not a boxing city."
