Now Martinez wants a big money fight, but I just don't think he will get it anytime soon. So in the mean time why not try to get his WBO belt back and fight Pirog for a unification match?
Pirog had a great coming out party in the U.S by KO'ing Jacobs. He wants to get back to HBO, HBO I guess is waiting to match him with the right opponent for him. That should be Martinez. Pirog is the WBO titlist and give him a chance to unify. And, it will be a very tough first defense for him. And, Pirog would not hesitate to fight Martinez and has no problem coming to the U.S unlike Sturm.
I think this is the best most realistic match-up that could be made for both fighters and HBO.
Your thoughts?
I like this match up. But boxing is not always all about competition. It also involves politics and most of all, economics.
Yeah, at the age of 35, Martinez will be looking for big money fight. He is the man in the middleweight division right now. He is legitimate middleweight champion of the world. All the new guys will now start to call him out. But unfortunately, he came in the scene when nobody else is out there to give him the money in the middleweight division!
All the big money fights are up there in the supermiddleweight division. And at Martinez' age, he could not afford to go down back to welterweight to fight Manny Pacquiao and still be effective. He's already a natural light-heavyweight, walking around 180lbs!
Better put him in there with the Super Six! or fight Lucian Bute! That would be an exciting fight!
Arthur Abraham will try to do a "Clottey" and Carl Froch will try to do a "Pacquiao". But...and its a BIG BUT...Abraham moves faster and packs a lot more power and Froch is a lot slower and has very big gaps in defense. Froch will try to imitate Ward, but once he gets caught with those Abraham power shots... that's when the fights gonna get interesting!
Erislandy Lara definitely made a name for himself after he thoroughly beaten Gigantic former Jr.Middleweight champion Paul Williams but got robbed off a win by the unscrupulous judges.
Lara vs Kirkland looks like another barn burner. SO LET'S GET THIS FIGHT ON!!!
Manny is the top guy in the sport right now. So if Sergio Martinez would want to fight Manny Pacquiao, he'd have to burn his muscles down to welterweight. There's no way Manny Pacquiao would climb up to middleweight! Manny Pacquiao's even too small to reach the welterweight limit every time he goes up the scale! And I don't see Sergio Martinez putting himself in the boilling room to sqeeze himself dry down to 147lbs and then fight the best fighter in the world! That's just total madness!!!! It's indeed a mismatch.
What I don't understand about Sergio Martinez is, why is he willing to take a high-risk low-reward fight, stake his title, against an unknown and undefeated fighter Darren Barker whom he had struggled for 11rounds before knocking him out, when he could easily get Dimtriy Pirog, who is also a title holder himself?
Pirog vs Martinez would sell! I bet Pirog has better name recognition than that Barker guy.
I say Sergio Martinez step up and put Dimitriy Pirog away! Rather than calling out fighters who are way much smaller than himself! Why don't he call out fighters his own size?!
After Martinez finishes Dimitriy Pirog, then it's high time that Julio Ceasar Chavez Jr. be thrown to the Lion's Den and fight the REAL CHAMP Sergio Gabriel Martinez!
I say bring Martinez down to Junior Welterweight and let him fight Pacquiao for the linear Junior Welterweight title. So that Manny will knock the air out of his gut!
Come to think of it, Manny Pacquiao is still the Linear Junior Welterweight Champion of the world, and the WBO welterweight champion of the world, and the WBC light-middleweight champion of the world. 3 titles, 3 weight divisions at the same time.
So, if I were Manny Pacquiao, and Sergio would want to cash in on me to fight me, I'd stake my junior welterweight belt on the line and fight him at 140lbs. Manny Pacquiao would easily destroy a weight-drained Sergio Martinez. But.... I'm not Manny Pacquiao.