I guess we all have the tendency to discredit a fighter somewhat after a sub-par performance in a fight that is expected to be a total blowout of their dominance. (ex. Pac vs jmm3, donaire vs Vasquez and now this).


I have to see the fight again to truly judge Sergio against "boxers"

Shit... Castillo tested it in their 1st fight and Mayweather ate that shit like it was a grape.



I know, right? He's very unorthodox on both, offense and defense. I'm not a fan of his defense, 'cause he almost always keeps his hands down (I haaaaaaaaaaate that shit) to lure his opponents in, but it works for him, so I can't really knock it. I guess I'm 1 of the "other guys" Mayweather was referrin' to when he said somethin' along the lines of, "I think Martinez has a very, very impressive style. I'm a lil' bit different from the other guys."

Re. the new Euro. middleweight champ, I thought that the Polish guy won. When I was watching it, I thought that it was a bit of a stylistic precursor to Martinez vs. Macklin. I thought the Polish guy was also more accurate than Hope. If he just had more strength and wasn't blinded by the blood from the cut, he could've taken Hope out of there as opposed to relying on the scorecards.

IMO, Maravilla's clearly the top dog at middleweight and unlike one of the other supposed top pound for pounders, didn't make his name by fighting weight drained shells.

I share your sentiments.

what I meant by that is that he doesn't take unnecessary shots, he's not there for a war so he'll last, I think its why fighters like Hopkins and Toney are still in the sport, they don't go in for wars, if they can move out of harms way they will, and if a shot from Mosley stunned him, am guessing a left hand from Martinez wouldn't be something nice.

Counting the 11th round, I had the fight 101 - 101. Mind you, I score even rounds 9-9 and there were 2-3 of those. I scored Macklin's knockdown round 10-9 in his favor, as I felt Martinez was actually the round. The 11th round was scored 10-7 for Martinez who earned 2 knockdowns.

Fun fight to watch, looking forward to a possible Mayweather - Martinez fight at 154 lbs. in the fall perhaps.

Let's not forget Demarcus Corley, Zab Judah, or Sharmba Mitchell. When Mitchell caught him, that shit was funny as fuck. Mayweather, bein' the cocky guy that he is, said somethin' along the lines of, "he ain't gon' land it" to the commentators in the middle of the fight (referrin' to Mitchell's signature punch), and as soon as he said that, Mitchell landed the shot and stunned Mayweather , but he immediately recovered from it. That shit was funny as fuck, though. I can't remember exactly which round it happened in, but when I find it, I'll post the video.

EDIT: It happened in Round 2. Someone from Sharmba's corner said, "Let it go. What are you holdin' it for, Sharmba? (referrin' to the left hand)," then Mayweather said, "He ain't gon' land it." He was respondin' to someone in Sharmba's corner, not the commentators. My mistake.

FF it to the 4:09 mark. 4:09-4:30

The proper score should've been 10-8 in his favor. I'm lookin' forward to Mayweather-Martinez at 154, too. *Fingers crossed*

maybe, i dont think its the problem with southpaws, I just think Martinez will at some point in there fight land that punch clean.

It's bound to happen.

problem is I don't see the fight happening.

The weight would be the only issue, I suppose.

What I meant is that, I felt Martinez was winning the round, ergo, the knockdown by Macklin caused a 2 point swing, giving him the round 10-9.

Great posts guys! I'll STILL stick to my guns and say that Sergio isn't this top P4P fighter...he's ranked, but not that high in my opinion. There's not that much going on in the MW division (though it should be), and Sergio is the top performer in the division, so that gives people the impression that he's a P4P fighter.

I noticed that Macklin and Martinez fought in similar fashion (lunging and reaching), but Macklin got caught up chasing him and got caught coming in on several occasions while failing to move his head when they got on the inside.

I noticed that someone else mentioned how Sergio gets into the this lull or in my words, stand-still moments, around the 6th and 7th round of fights. It's almost like he takes a break for about 3 rounds, and his opponents either tee off on him a bit, or there's nearly any action at all.

Macklin was busy for most of the fight, but he just declined later in the fight. I mean seriously, he could've hit Sergio more than he did, but Im sure getting countered simply lingered in his mind after catching a few notable counter punches.

The knockdown ...seriously, all of those ringside eyes, should have known that their legs got tangled, but again...the shit that they see from ringside baffles me (to say the least). I hate Emmanuel Steward's theory (paraphrasing), "Had a punch not landed, then he wouldn't have gone down". Again, most of the shit that Steward spews, should always be reevaluated...that's only if you have the strength to even give a damn about what he says.

If Sergio faces a guy that's either a busy fighter by nature or executes a busy game plan, then he may be up shit creek and REALLY have to adjust. Examples of busy fighters or busy game plans are: Pacquiao in the second Morales fight and the De La Hoya fight, or even Sergio in the Williams rematch...and got forbid if he runs into a "punch and clinch" fighter...THAT will totally nullify his one punch at a time style and force him to dig deep.

I said that Sergio would REALLY have to adjust against a more complex fighter, because let's face it, he didn't have THAT much trouble adjusting to Macklin. I think the fact that he started as fast as he did, made viewers look for something big to happen sooner than usual, but it didn't.

Im guessing that he went right at Macklin, because he thought Macklin would do the same. Thing is, Macklin probably thought Sergio would start slow, so the quick start may have thrown him off. Point is, both fighters threw each other off.

I dont know what's up with Sergio though...he starts off a bit slow (though accuracy makes up for it), then has those weird middle rounds, just to score a late knockout. The funniest part is, most of the time, his opponents have greater success in the middle rounds, just to succumb to his awkward style of fighting/gameplan at the end.

It's weird, but those knockouts always seem to happen around the same time, and his opponents just have those "I give up" rounds at the end. Maybe it's because of his constant movement, somebody help me here.

Oh yeah, was anybody dizzy from watching Martinez circle the ring all night? Overall, great fight, and great attendance at the event...nearly 4,500 - 5k people?! Good stuff!

I thought this fight reaffirmed and changed a few things about how I look at Martinez -

Like I thought, his greatest asset is his stamina. Martinez looked as fresh in the 10th as he did the 1st. A part of that is Martinez' disciplined punch output. He throws only when he must. But it appears his training and natural body can last and endure more so than the average fighter.

What I learned is that Martinez power is not underrated. I initially felt Martinez k.o. power was overblown because he caught Williams. But, Barker and Macklin got knocked out in the LATE rounds. It also seemed Macklin got marked up early from just a few Martinez punches. To me, that suggests extraordinary power and an extension of that is longevity. Even if his athleticism wanes with age he is always going to have that power, he might have to change his style to best implement it though.

Very Good Fight!

Matt Macklin really tried in there, and Sergio and he overcame some early close rounds to produce a better fight than expected. I think Martinez's best assets are his stamina and his adaptability. BUT I don't think he is all that HBO and crew prompt him to be. Manny Steward is a senile old fart who needs to be replaced! God he sucks!

I think Martinez-Chavez Jr. will NOT be a mismatch at all if the fight happens. In fact, Sergio may have to dominate to get a decision. I think he stops Jr. late. I think Chavez should dump Bob Arum so we can see this fight!

Jack

what i dont get is that floyd is fighting cotto at 154 while martinez keeps going on about 150

Under Card: Good undercard I hope Rodriguez makes real money to support his children. A great story indeed.

Announcers: Lampley glasses were distracting as usual the Big Three were critical. Larry's comments about George and Rodriguez were typical of him. Manny Steward is starting to digress. I found it somewhat funny during the main even how they kept saying Sergio isn't acting like a pound for pound fighter because he was not throwing combination punches. They gave Macklin a lot of credit which he deserved. The kicker was towards the later rounds their opinion about Sergio was night and day. These guys are not fan of boxing they like certain boxers I think it is time for HBO to get new blood. I know people do not like change but it is time to find new announcers. The Spanish announcers are fans of the sport and they are exciting to listen too. The Big Three have become way too critical.


Sergio: Slow start but found his rhythm in the later rounds. I think the knock down really pissed him off and he knew that he probably was trailing on rounds and stepped it up big time. His timing got better and the left hand connected to Macklin all the time. Great 11th round knock out. Sergio vs. Mayweather was being discussed and I do not think that the fight would be entertaining, they are both counter punchers but Sergio is easy to hit so who knows. It may be like a De La Hoya type of match up again.

Macklin: Worst version of Rocky Road to Dublin The High Kings had a much better version... that I ever heard with that said, great heart and had some moments in the fight but he gassed out in the later rounds and was taking a beating. His head movement was non existent and his punchers lost steam. Overall the kid showed a lot of heart and his trainer Buddy McGrit did the right thing by stopping the fight. If he gets his conditioning together he can be a good fighter.

Originally, Floyd wanted Martinez to come down to 150 (I haven't read the latest articles, yet, but I'm about to in a min). Seein' how Mayweather is willin' to fight Cotto at 154, I'd hope he'd be willin' to fight Martinez at 154 as well. In a pre-fight interview leadin' up to his fight with Macklin, Sergio said he's most comfortable at 154. I want that fight to be at 154 as well, so there will be no excuses on either end.