"Paul Williams can't change his style. All he can do is just throw punches because that's all he knows. He can't sit around and wait for the right time to strike because he knows he's too slow for Martinez, so he just throws and throws. And he can't walk backwards because then it'd just be an easy night for Martinez. All he can do is just come out and be Paul Williams and throw over a hundred punches a round," stated Gabriel Sarmiento, world-class trainer of Sergio Martinez, as he talked about the upcoming rematch with Paul Williams and much more. Check it out!
RK: What stage in camp are you in with Martinez?
GS: We're about two weeks in so far. Since it's really the beginning, it'll be some of the toughest, blunt force training before we cool off for a bit, and then we'll pick it back up again.
RK :What is Sergio's attitude going into this fight?
GS: He's truly happy with where he's at now. I've been with him throughout most of his career and at different stages, and he definitely has a great attitude, but he's also very motivated for Paul Williams. Every day I see it in his training; he shows up with a great attitude and a smile.
RK: How are you guys preparing differently for this Paul Williams fight, having already gone twelve rounds with him before?
GS: He trains four times a day now. We're working a lot on his balance. We're working a lot on his movement. By keeping him active four times a day, it's going to improve his balance, his shoulder movement, and his head movement. But putting him in the gym four times a day now is probably the biggest difference.
RK: How do you prepare your fighter for a 6'2" opponent with a 84-inch reach? What kind of sparring partners do you guys use?
GS: The first time around, Paul Williams seemed fine fighting at middleweight, but then he wanted to fight at 154 or 156 or whatever. We have Martinez sparring with all kinds of fighters but to mimic Paul specifically, we're using Russell Jordan. He doesn't throw as many punches as Paul, but he's got the same body, the same movement. He's very similar.
RK: What do you think Paul is going to try to do differently this time around against Sergio?
GS: Paul Williams can't change his style. All he can do is just throw punches because that's all he knows. He can't sit around and wait for the right time to strike because he knows he's too slow for Martinez, so he just throws and throws. And he can't walk backwards because then it'd just be an easy night for Martinez. All he can do is just come out and be Paul Williams and throw over a hundred punches a round.
RK: How did it feel to see him beat Kelly Pavlik to become champion at 160?
GS: Three years ago, Martinez was fighting in Vegas the same night Kelly Pavlik fought Jermain Taylor for the first time and then it became my dream for Martinez to eventually fight Pavlik for the title. When I told him, Sergio looked at me like I was crazy, but when the day came and we got the offer to fight Pavlik, I knew it was gonna be a dream come true and we'd take the title and it happened.
RK: How concerned were you in those middle rounds of the Pavlik fight when he seemed to take his foot off the gas?
GS: I was a little concerned, but to be honest, that was actually part of our strategy from the start. Our plan was to start off strong in the early rounds and then conserve our energy so that we could come back even stronger in the later ones. He had to have enough energy so that he could come back the second half with his double-attack, where Martinez would come in and attack, come out, and then come in again throwing combinations, which you saw tore Pavlik's face up. That really was the plan from the beginning and I just loved how perfectly things went to plan.
RK: Despite Martinez being a significant underdog against Pavlik, I actually picked him for the win because he and Bernard Hopkins both use great lateral movement in surrounding the ring before striking in a flurry, which Pavlik seemed unable to cope with. How much of a blueprint was the Hopkins-Pavlik fight in beating Kelly Pavlik?
GS: Hopkins opened up a lot of doors in showing how to beat Kelly Pavlik, but honestly, as a trainer and having seen Pavlik's last three fights, I had already seen plenty of mistakes that Pavlik would make and watched how he would react in certain situations. That's why we came out with the plan of doing the double-attack and coming explosive at him twice in a row. Kelly Pavlik has this thing where every time he's attacked, he has to take a step back and regroup. Hopkins wasn't really able to capitalize on that, but we made sure to come at him both times, on the attack, and when he was on the retreat. That's why those last two rounds, you saw Martinez was able to come at him constantly.
RK: How would you prepare Sergio for a rematch against Antonio Margarito?
GS: Honestly, Margarito isn't even that good of a fighter, he isn't even close to being on the same level as Martinez. That fight wouldn't go past five rounds at most. I'd prepare him the same way I always do, but Martinez would annihilate him. The only reason why it didn't happen before is because Martinez wasn't with me at the time. He was with a different trainer and when he lost, he came back home, found me, and since then, I've kept him undefeated up until the Paul Williams fight. I've had him do all kinds of new physical work and Martinez is a whole different fighter than he was back then. Margarito, though, has hardly improved since then and is basically the exact same fighter he was ten years ago. Margarito is the same aggressor that simply comes at you, but Martinez has just evolved so much.
You've got the best guys out there, like Pacquiao, Mayweather, Martinez and Williams. Then a step lower you've got the Angulo's and Malignaggi's. Margarito isn't even on that level. Margarito would get wrecked against Martinez a second time around. He'd get hit so many times, it wouldn't even last five rounds at most.
RK: If your guy beats Pau,l do you think he should win Fighter of the Year?
GS: If Martinez follows the plan I'm trying to set him on and beats Williams, then absolutely he deserves Fighter of the Year. Mayweather only fought one guy, Mosley, and Pacquiao will have fought Clottey, who really isn't that good a fighter, and Margarito, who isn't anything special either.
RK: Any last words or shout-outs?
GS: I just want to thank you all at FightHype, all the boxing fans, especially the Martinez fans here in the United States, in Puerto Rico, Mexico, all over. He's so grateful for the huge support he has here, it actually seems even more than in his hometown in Argentina. We feel a lot of love.