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[Cheesey1]

Just when it looked like JCC Jr. actually had a pair, it turns out that the expectations by naive fight fans like myself are the victim of more Holy Rank shenanigans.
In a nutshell, Martinez signed the contract a couple of weeks ago, but JCC Jr. has been sitting on it for at least two weeks.
Classic Holy Rank bait and switch. Verbally agree to it in the press and then when it's time to put pen to paper.....

The Holy Rank bullpen over at ESPN have an article discussing this, but the writer still somehow makes excuses for the Bobfather. Mind boggling. Read it (only for the factual stuff and the quotation from Martinez' manager) and weep over the excuses made for the Bobfather and his unique company.
http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/boxing/po...chavez-a-coward


RingNews 24 has the below quote, that I'm particulary fond of, from Martinez. Good stuff.

"Chavez is afraid to get into the ring with me without the random drug tests. He will be even more scared to get in the ring with me if he has to take random Olympic style testing. I hope we have the tests but I really can't comment on that now" said Martinez, who strengthened his grip on the division with an 11th round stoppage win over Matthew Macklin last month.
http://www.ringnews24.com/index.php?option...1#axzz1sVPUfkoI

[thehype]

Actually, the title of the thread should read "Slow your roll boxing writers".

It's the writers who were telling the fans that the fight was going to happen simply because Martinez signed some contract. At the end of the day, Martinez can sign 3 different contracts with the names Chavez Jr., Pacquiao and Mayweather on them, but that doesn't mean he's gonna get those fights.

As far as I know, the Chavez Jr. camp has NEVER been presented any contracts for a Martinez fight by their promoter, so I'm not even sure where all this talk about him not wanting to take drug tests is coming from.

Both Top Rank and Chavez Jr. are going to do what's financially best for them, and if Bob Arum is coming to the table with an offer to fight Margarito that's going to make Chavez Jr. more money than a fight with Martinez, then which fight do you think he's going to take? I really don't know the particulars of any offers, HOWEVER, I do know that Top Rank is VERY interested in making sure they extend their contract with Chavez Jr., which is something that Chavez Jr. is also fully aware of. That puts him in a position of power with them. Knowing that, they're going to offer him something that's going to convince him to stay. Could that something be a fight with Martinez? Possibly...it just depends on how much money that fight is worth and how much money they would have to split with Lewkowicz/DiBella. Could it be a fight with Margarito? Again, possibly...it just depends on how much money that fight is worth. Does the WBC play a role in their decision? Absolutely not, because the manner in which they pimp out title belts, it really doesn't matter if they strip him of the title. Truth be told, the WBC would be shooting themselves in the foot if they did strip him for the simple fact that they make their money off sanctioning fees, which usually based on a percentage of what the fight is worth...and quite frankly, Chavez Jr. vs. Margarito on the weekend of Mexican Independence is likely worth far more money than Sergio Martinez vs......vs......damn....I can't even think of who he would fight that would generate money like that. So at the end of the day, the WBC would be taking money out of their own pocket, which is something they probably couldn't live with, so a week after stripping Chavez Jr. of the title, they would likely proclaim that Chavez Jr. vs. Margarito is for the Interim WBC Super Regular Unobtanium Title.

Is it boxing politics? Absolutely, but what else is new? Honestly, when your organization like Top Rank and a fighter with the type of name that Chavez Jr. has, you can afford to play politics. It's Martinez, Lewkowicz and DiBella who are in no position to play politics, and truth be told, I actually put more blame on them for not being able to obtain the fights they want. The truth of the matter is that boxing is a game of chess. You have to stay two steps ahead of your opponent. Unfortunately for Martinez, the people around him aren't doing that. Instead of being proactive, they're being reactive...they're just sitting and waiting for the fight to fall into their lap instead of taking the necessary steps to block moves. Crying about some belt is meaningless...especially when HBO, ESPN, and others keep preaching about how meaningless the belts and organizations are to begin with. Instead of Martinez going on his Tour de Europe, he should have eliminated options for Chavez Jr. Case in point, DiBella shouldn't have served up Lee to Chavez Jr. He should have served Lee up to Martinez. He should have kept Macklin on the backburner in Europe to go after Sturm. Eventually, he could get Jermain Taylor back in the mix. Meanwhile, Chavez Jr. would've exhausted the Top Rank options. I mean, truth be told, he's pretty much done so. I mean, it was to the point where they were going to make Vanes Martirosyan move up to 160 to fight Chavez, which likely would have been suicide for him. Still though, letting Chavez Jr. fight Andy Lee basically gave Top Rank an opportunity to push a Martinez fight even further back now if they so choose. As a promoter/manager in boxing, you can't just sit back, cry, and hope that the other side will give you what you want. It just doesn't work that way in boxing. You have to make moves, and right now, the Martinez camp hasn't really been making the right moves in my opinion.

Just my 2 cents on the whole matter. But yeah, like it was originally pointed out, I would not be at all surprised if the fight doesn't happen, but at the same time, I ain't mad at 'em. I do know Chavez Jr. really doesn't have a problem with fighting Martinez...no problem at all. That being said, if he's given an opportunity to make 1 or 2 million more fighting someone like Margarito, he'd be a fool to turn that down.