Sergio is looking bad on purpose....

[WarMaidana]

I think to some people, Martinez is "looking bad", but it's by design. Martinez really has his style down to a science. The first half of the fight, he's not really over-exerting himself, but he is landing crisp punches to the head/body and slipping punches. He's conserving his energy for the most part. By the 6th round, Macklin's face was starting to disfigure. It took the knockdown to make him realize that it was time for him to shift gears and start applying more pressure, which is what he did. In the middle rounds til the stoppage, he would ambush Macklin at unexpected times, and he wasn't able to defend well cuz he was fading. As Macklin started tiring, Sergio was timing him with the left over and over. Macklin started reverting back to his old tactics, and that's what Sergio was waiting for. Martinez has stamina in the later rounds because he is intelligently consuming it throughout the fight. He has a low work-rate, but his punches do plenty of damage. Sergio's fighting strategy is smarter than it seems. I'm not a fan of him dropping his hands, but after the fight, he didn't have any bruising or cuts.

really good analysis and your probably right. Also i dont mean bad i mean that he is toning it down and playing with opponent for first half of fight

[mathed]

All I can tell you is that as soon as he "turns it on" it only takes a round or two to get the other guy out of there. He does stuff that works and then he goes away from it for no reason. He is one of the best finishers I have ever seen though and he knows when it's time to "turn it on".

I've seen him trash people from the git-go...I think he could be finishing these guys within a few rounds but wants to take his time. I think that the punches he takes don't really affect him so he doesn't act worried because he knows he is slowly breaking them down for the final kill.

[CHOWWOKKA]

Sergio is trying to lure in Chavez by "looking bad"

[kiaba360]

All I can tell you is that as soon as he "turns it on" it only takes a round or two to get the other guy out of there. He does stuff that works and then he goes away from it for no reason. He is one of the best finishers I have ever seen though and he knows when it's time to "turn it on".

I've seen him trash people from the git-go...I think he could be finishing these guys within a few rounds but wants to take his time. I think that the punches he takes don't really affect him so he doesn't act worried because he knows he is slowly breaking them down for the final kill.

It's much more satisfying that way lol. It became evident in the 9th round that Macklin was gonna hit the canvas. Macklin's chin held up for as long as it possibly could.

[americanbot]

you all who agreed with this threads logic deserves a great big

& A warm little

too much crying & whining because martinez looked like sh&t & was exposed as a overrated fraud.

[Garo]

Right from the beginning of the fight I thought it seemed like Martinez wasn't giving it his all.

[rambov]

This again.

Let me say this. I have never heard of a fighter who wanted to look bad against another to land a big fight.

[mushahadeen]

Sergio is looking bad on purpose....

If Sergio is pretending to suck, he is doing a really, really, really GREAT job!

[rambov]

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahhahaaaaaa

[TouchyAndalou]

He's not "intentionally looking bad", that's ******ed. I don't even think he's taking these fighters lightly. Martinez's opponents have just wised up to the fact that guys who came straight at him like Williams and Dzinziruk were getting knocked out and making Martinez look spectacular. Barker fought off the back foot with a solid defence, made Martinez lead and posed some problems in doing so.

Macklin spent the build up to the fight talking about how he was going to get inside on Martinez with high pressure like he did Sturm, but I didn't believe it for a second. That would have gone bad for him, as Martinez is too quick of hand and foot and too sharp a puncher to be pinned down like that. Think Pacquiao vs Hatton. So Macklin and McGirt obviously considered the difference between how Martinez looked against Williams and how he looked against Barker in forming their strategy. Sergio likes guys coming at him so he can counterpunch and wait for opportunities to drop in that big left hand, both Macklin and Barker limited his opportunities to do that.

Barker and Macklin were both also somewhat successful in preventing Martinez from getting into a rhythm by giving him looks he wasn't expecting from either guy. Sergio is very difficult once he gets into that rhythm, just ask Kelly Pavlik. Against domestic or European level competition, Barker generally has a high workrate, and fights a bit like a poor man's Calzaghe. Martinez wasn't expecting to have to follow him around the ring and initiate exchanges. And Macklin has been a fairly rugged, straightforward brawler throughout his career, and Martinez's camp likely would have expected him to fight a similar fight to the one he fought against Sturm.

Martinez eventually figured out how to get to these guys, but it took him a few rounds, and the styles employed made him look less dominant than he otherwise recently has.