Sergio Martinez: "I gave away the middle rounds to Pavlik ON PURPOSE"

GL: Congrats on your championship winning effort. Can you give us some thoughts on your performance? SM: "For nine weeks I trained and planned to do exactly what happened. I had blueprint of what had to be done; win the first four rounds and then give some confidence to the champion for the next two or three and then come back strong to finish the fight the way any challenger is supposed to finish, winning the championship rounds." GL: So in other words, you took your foot off the gas on purpose to break him down in the championship rounds? Sergio Martinez: "That's correct. My trainer told me not to double up on my punches until the eighth round." ------------ To read the entire interview: http://boxing talk.com/pag/article.php?aid=19744

Comments (20)

Mr_Philadel

this doesn't suprise me a bit....he took rounds off against the Punisher as well......as I'm typing I'm replayin' those middle rounds against Kelly now.....it did seem like he fell back and let some rounds go because in the 9th he came off the stool blazin' :boxing:

16y ago

bojangles1987

Obviously he didn't want to get knocked down and completely dominated in the middle rounds, but when you see how he fought the 9th he was rested and ready to go.

16y ago

minasyan

same knock down happened to abraham its legit they both dropped from a punch

16y ago

BoxCleva

I agree. Martinez left hook was winning him the fight. Pav started to time him but when the cut on his right eye opened up badly, he was completely helpless to that punch and that is when Martinez took him apart. Any unbiased person could see this is what clearly happened. I think both scenarios are plausible. Pacing yourself strategically throughout a fight is commonplace so Martinez may well have planned that as he says, but the cut definitely effected Pavlik's performance for the remainder of the fight too. Without the cut it would probably have been more competitive in the championship rounds.

16y ago

Khalid_X

I was wondering the same thing. I don't mean to play keyboard cutman but isn't that a pretty standard thing to do? As far as Martinez' strategy, I don't know. Let's not forget that the time he turned it on happened to be right when Pavlik's face was pouring blood which makes things a little easier. I agree. Martinez left hook was winning him the fight. Pav started to time him but when the cut on his right eye opened up badly, he was completely helpless to that punch and that is when Martinez took him apart. Any unbiased person could see this is what clearly happened.

16y ago

Khalid_X

I don't believe him. He did the same thing against Williams, and it cost him the fight so why the hell would he do that again....against a champion who your more than likely to get robbed against. I mean after 2 (In his teams eyes) Robberies, it just doesn't make sense to do that. FWIW...Pavlik started to time his left hand and was using feights and his jab to get to Martinez. WHen that cut opened up on his right eye, he was completely helpless to Martinez left hand. That's what really happen, and was the huge factor in the fight. Congrats to Sergio...but it makes to sense to add extra sh1t when he already won clearly.

16y ago

946etamax

Could someone explain to me why Pavliks corner didn't use vaseline or those cotton buds or whatever they are like most trainers use? It was a crap job by them anyways Thanks in advance I was wondering the same thing. I don't mean to play keyboard cutman but isn't that a pretty standard thing to do? As far as Martinez' strategy, I don't know. Let's not forget that the time he turned it on happened to be right when Pavlik's face was pouring blood which makes things a little easier.

16y ago

Miburo

It's possible, in the 15 round era plenty of guys fought this way.

16y ago

djsygo

I believe him, he didnt want to look tired in the championship rounds, thats a big mistake many boxers make, he wanted to finish big and have all the needed energy for that.

16y ago

minasyan

Could someone explain to me why Pavliks corner didn't use vaseline or those cotton buds or whatever they are like most trainers use? It was a crap job by them anyways Thanks in advance

16y ago

gqjohnb

Fighters take a breather in rounds all the time come to think of it. Its tough to go hard for 12 rounds.

16y ago

SkillspayBills

It could go either way. It's all opinion HOWEVER, that is a pretty damn good strategy. The championship rounds matter the most and there is nothing wrong with giving a few rounds away to turn it up in the final 3-4.

16y ago

Sutekh_uvdabrix

Im buying it reason being.. Pavlik got suped into thinking he was coming back sergio turned it back on in the 9th and pavlik wanted to quit on the stool.. Like I cant believe I tried my hardest in the last few rounds and he just pummeled my ass

16y ago

gqjohnb

I think its very possible that he's telling the truth. He came out with a completely different mindset in the 8th when the cut happened(maybe the ninth can't remember) He started to throw more combinations.

16y ago

paulf

Truth. After Williams he learned not to go full steam until the entire fight and run out of gas when he needed it the most. I thought he fought the perfect fight.

16y ago

Ray

After watching the fight i actually believe him.

16y ago

z0jo

the funny thing is even the rounds he took off he was still winning them.

16y ago

dorruel20

nahhh...i saw Pavlik coming on strong and even outboxing Sergio for a bit.

16y ago

RockyB

No, i dont think he did. why stop when he was already crushing him?

16y ago

David

I believe the strategy of taking a little break in between to get a little energy and then step it up in the last rounds to win the fight. But going as far as saying the strategy was to actually LOSE those rounds on purpose its plain ridiculous. No trainer aims to lose round and no fighter should either. I believe the plan but i think the losing on purpose rounds its total bullshit IMO Whats next he is gonna say he was knockedown on purpose too so pavlik could get overconfident Cmon. ( and I really like Martinez and was really happy he won but this is too much 4me )

16y ago