Sergio Martinez Legacy

[daggum]

A cripple wouldn't have been allowed to fight. That joke is getting old. Martinez himself wouldn't have fought had he really been crippled. Who would want to take a beating, if they don't truly think they can win? And, again, everyone has injuries. Cotto has a badly broken right arm with a titanium plate in it. I'm not implying anything other than all fighters go through and have injuries. It is what it is. Cotto does what he can with his arm. This is sports.

during the fight? martinez could barely walk during the fight and looked like the tin-man.

[CatchAndShoot]

Him and Gennady would've been awesome.


Not the crippled version doe.

This. With a healthy and in his prime Sergio, I'd have it as a toss up, although GGG has the exact style to knock him out, or win a pretty dominant decision.

But prime Sergio was a truly great fighter that adapted to different styles of boxers, and always looked to put on a spectacular show. One of my favorite fighters to watch.

[intoccabile]

He was a brilliant fighter, although not truly up to the hype that surrounded him (Cotto proved that). In his heyday, Sergio was equal to GGG's current level of hype. Personally, I saw through that, because his level of competition just wasn't on par with the best in the sport (similar to GGG's situation, although Martinez faced better opposition than GGG has). Nevertheless, fighters like Paul Williams were themselves mostly hype, so it was clear the situation would be different up against an elite. Of course, there's always the "Ghost," but we all knew his personal issues.

Either way, Cotto was a bad match-up for Martinez. Cotto destroys anybody who doesn't have some sort of extraordinary attribute(s) to keep him at bay. Examples are Pacquiao's strength, speed, and angles, Mayweather's speed, Margarito's plaster, and Canelo's rehydration size (although I believe Cotto beat Canelo). Martinez's attribute was movement, and that is Cotto's game. Miguel isn't Chavez; he was going to land his bombs.

And, yes, yes, I know about the knee. But everyone has injuries. Even Cotto has a bad right arm due to a traffic accident, which broke it in several places. And anyway, even in a prime-vs-prime match-up, I always thought Cotto would win. Everyone laughed at me over that (GGG-level-hype), but I knew what would happen.

Anyhow, Martinez still has to be respected. He's one of my favorite fighters ever. I mean, c'mon, a southpaw that moved like that? With that kind of power and technique? It's at least Zab Judah-level ability. And Zab is probably in my top 10 all-time favorites.

But an injury that completely nullifies your in ring ability is different. Sergio, like Yuri Foreman, is a mover. All his strength is in his knees. Without them, he's a drastically lesser fighter. In situations like that, the injury means everything.

[Beercules]

This. With a healthy and in his prime Sergio, I'd have it as a toss up, although GGG has the exact style to knock him out, or win a pretty dominant decision.

But prime Sergio was a truly great fighter that adapted to different styles of boxers, and always looked to put on a spectacular show. One of my favorite fighters to watch.

Sergio was amazing. One of a fight this would have been

[El Gitano]

Didn't Martinez beat Cintron like 3x in the same fight and still ended up with a draw? lol

[IronDanHamza]

I think decent Middleweight champion.

[boliodogs]

I thought he was good but nothing exceptional. He didn't do a very good job of defending his middleweight title. He should have defended against his number 1 challenger GGG and he had years to do so but he never fought him. He has losses to Williams and Margarito and a draw with Citron. I know he is popular and I will get angry responses to what I just posted but that's my honest opinion. Good but not exceptional. He had a pleasing style and was enjoyable to watch. I know the draw with Citron was a bad call but he should have KOed Citron. Margarito KOed him before he peaked but he still KOed him.

[jcj0427]

The GGG of his era 08-12. Nobody wanted to fight him. The best middleweight hands down of his time. A sure shot HOF'er. Sergio woulda fuc*** up Cotto had he not been crippled. I'm completely sure of that. He obviously took the last fight because of the paycheck and because he thought "hey, maybe I can beat this guy with one leg". He only had one big money fight before that and it was Chavez JR, a guy 20 pounds bigger then him on fight night who he schooled.

Sergio "Maravilla" Martinez was one of boxings greats. A GGG-Maravilla fight woulda been epic to watch in Maravillas prime. Too bad the timing wasnt there.

[W1LL]

Martin Murray beat him fair and square, in his own backyard, and got screwed out.

[mathed]

One of the greatest boxing talents I have seen. Had he started boxing at a young age like other boxers, I think he would be up there with Pac and Mayweather in terms of legacy. Had the heart, the skills, the determination and the desire to put on a show for the fans.