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In his ESPN blog entry from a few days ago, Dan Rafael presented a list of boxers that middleweight champ Sergio Martinez is willing to face in his next bout.
You can read the whole list for yourself. It includes Miguel Cotto, Shane Mosley, Antonio Margarito, Kermit Cintron, and Alfredo Angulo.
DiBella also said Martinez could compete at 154 or 160 pounds to make one of those fights happen.
Paul Williams, who Rafael says is HBO's preferred partner for Martinez, was also on that list.
That's no surprise.
The two men engaged in a thrilling battle last December that many fans picked as the best fight of 2009.
Yet Williams, like everyone else mentioned in the piece, doesn't seem too interested in taking on Martinez.
That's not intended as a knock on Williams. He's a terrific boxer who I personally love to watch.
And since he won the first meeting, he's under no obligation to do a rematch.
Yet, as a guy who wears the unofficial crown as "Most Ducked Boxer," Williams is doing the avoiding in this case. Indeed, if DiBella's list is even two-thirds true, there is little doubt that Martinez has inherited the mythical position from The Punisher.
What puts a fighter in the unenviable position of being someone who's almost universally respected for his skills, but who has a hard time getting a spot atop a major televised card?
In my mind, there are four factors:
1. A willingness to fight anyone
This should be obvious, but if you aren't willing to take on all comers, you can hardly claim to be avoided by potential opponents. Boxers who go inactive for long periods of time are often doing the ducking themselves. David Haye, for example, is treading dangerously close to this territory.
Martinez qualifies here. He seems open to fighting a number of different foes in two divisions, all of whom are legitimate, even though some aren't huge names.
2. A style against which it's hard to look good
This is a problem for Williams. He's tall, has long arms and is super active. No top welterweights really wanted anything to do with him and even the ones who felt they could beat him knew it wasn't going to be easy, or look pretty while it lasted.
For Martinez, the issue is his lateral movement and quick feet. Kelly Pavlik actually fought a pretty good fight, despite losing. But Sergio's quickness made The Ghost look pretty slow in comparison.
Elusive equals frustrating for a lot of fighters, and Martinez is certainly that.
3. Enough talent that a victory is uncertain
Considering that Sergio now holds the middleweight gold, this is fairly obvious with him.
Regardless, if top fighters are absolutely certain they will beat someone, they don't duck him. Martinez (and Williams, before him) is good enough that even though other champs and contenders may think they can beat him, they can't be sure.
That's a small, but important difference.
4. Lack of proven drawing power
Though Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao are doing their best to change my thinking, I remain convinced that if the money is right, the majority of boxers will fight anyone.
The financial reward simply has to outweigh the perceived risk.
This trait works in conjunction with some of the others but is probably paramount. And there's no doubt this is true in spades for Martinez, who is undeniably talented but remains pretty much unknown in the U.S. outside of hardcore boxing fans.
Promoter Bob Arum confirmed this was the reason he wouldn't match Cotto against Martinez following his victory over Yuri Foreman, so it's not just me saying it.
I think we've got ourselves a pretty good case.
Martinez is currently the most ducked man in the sport, and someone significant will have to step up and challenge him to convince me otherwise.
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