Sergio Martinez and Paul Williams meet the media for the final time before their November 20 rematch in Atlantic City
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One of the best fighters in the world, Paul Williams talks about his rematch with Middleweight champion Sergio Martinez
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At the recent WBC Convention Germany’s unbeaten Sebastian Zbik 30-0(10) and currently hold the Interim WBC championship was mandated to fight the winner of the upcoming Sergio Martinez-Paul Williams fight. He hopes to get the winner possibly as soon as March 2011. The 28 year old who resides in Schwerin, Germany debuted back in 2004 and has been busy ever since. He won the Interim title in 2009 beating Domenico Spada beating him by close unanimous decision, since then he has retained the title three times all on points including one of them when he bested Spada in a rematch. He’s what Zbik had to say when he spoke with us.
Hello Sebastian, welcome to 15rounds.com
Sebastian Zbik – Hi Anson, nice to talk to you. What about the weather on your island? In Hamburg we have a great autumn. Very sunny.
Anson Wainwright – Haha It’s getting very cold here but thanks for asking Sebastian.
Anson Wainwright – You last fought in July, do you know when and against whom you will fight against next?
Sebastian Zbik – My promoter confirmed that I will fight against the winner of Martinez vs.Williams. I’m looking forward to delete the word interim in my title.
Anson Wainwright – You beat unbeaten Jorge Heiland in your last fight what can you tell us about the fight and you performance?
Sebastian Zbik – Argentineans are tough guys. They never give up. Heiland had enough power to work 12 rounds. That was a good test for me. Martinez is also Argentinean.
Anson Wainwright – Can you tell us about your team, who is your manager, trainer & promoter? Also what gym do you train at?
Sebastian Zbik – My Dad is my manager. My promoter is Universum Box-promotion. I work at famous Universum Gym. I like the atmosphere. And I have a very good coach. Artur Grigorian was a long time world champion at Lightweight division. It’s great to work with him.
Anson Wainwright – Can you tell us about your amateur career? What titles did you win & what was your record?
Sebastian Zbik – I was one of the most successful German amateurs. I had 152 fights with 129 wins. 99 and 2002 I won a bronze medal at European championship.
Anson Wainwright – When you’re not fighting or training for a fight what is your walk around weight?
Sebastian Zbik – I don’t know, at the moment it feels like I’m a Cruiserweight! 😉
Anson Wainwright – What do you like to do away from Boxing?
Sebastian Zbik – Music, Fishing, Soccer – what a surprise.
Anson Wainwright – Some people will say that your the Interim champion and would like to see you step up and fight the best around at 160 Martinez, Williams, Sturm, Macklin, Pirog etc what do you say to them?
Sebastian Zbik – I wanna fight all these names. Sturm made me an offer which was ridiculous. I asked him last week again, why he is avoiding me. He wants to fight big names, he can start in his neighbourhood! He lives 4 hours away from Hamburg. I would fight him in his living room. Let’s see what happens during the next weeks. I recently started training after a 2 months off-time.
Anson Wainwright – What do you consider the top 5 in order Middleweights today?
Sebastian Zbik – Martinez, Pavlik, Golvkin, Pirog and me anywhere between them. Everybody can beat everybody…
Anson Wainwright – Who do you consider your toughest opponent to date? What is your best performance?
Sebastian Zbik – Domenico Spada – he was my mandatory challenger twice. And it worked quite well for me. The first fight I was injured and I only had stamina for 5 rounds, but it was my first big title fight so I did it…
Anson Wainwright – Who was your hero growing up? Who do you rate as the best fighter in the World today?
Sebastian Zbik – Manny Pacquiao – I like his style of boxing.
Anson Wainwright – What do you like to do away from Boxing?
Sebastian Zbik – Umm let me think about it after my sports career. Maybe I visit a university in order to study sports science?
Anson Wainwright – Finally do you have a message for the Middleweight division?
Sebastian Zbik – Let’s make big bouts! I m ready for it.
Thanks for your time Sebastian.
Much appreciated!
Anson Wainwright
15rounds.com
15rounds.com Claudia Bocanegra was at the Palm West in New York City to capture the images from the press conference to announce world Middleweight champion Sergio Martinez November 20th title defense against Paul Williams in a rematch of their thrilling fight in December. The bout will take place at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City
On Thursday, Goossen Tutor Promotions and DiBella Entertainment held a press conference in New York City to promote the Nov. 20 rematch between Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez and Paul “The Punisher” Williams. The bout will take place in Atlantic City, New Jersey at Boardwalk Hall and is hosted by Caesars Atlantic City.
15Rounds.com was there to cover the press conference. Notes & quotes below.
Sergio Martinez:
— At the beginning of the press conference, Martinez was awarded the Ring Magazine middleweight championship belt.
— Martinez said, “Nobody wants to fight Paul Williams and nobody wants to fight “Maravilla” Martinez, so we have no choice but to fight each other.”
— “What we did the first time, I want to do it again,” Martinez said with regards to the excitement the first fight brought. “I want this fight to be a reflection of my career in the ring.”
— With regards to violence against women, Martinez said, “I love my mother and I want everyone to respect women. Every time I have a camera or microphone, I will always say to stop the violence.” Martinez has clearly taken this issue to heart and it is not the first time he has spoken out about the issue. Following the Edwin Valero tragedy, Martinez immediately spoke out calling for the need to treat all women with respect.
Paul Williams:
— “Exchanges aren’t [necessarily] good for me, but they are for the fans,” Williams said.
— Williams mentioned that in the first with Martinez he wasn’t prepared for all the lateral movement and the quickness. He said all the talk was “Pavlik, Pavlik, Pavlik” and he was preparing for someone to stand right in front of him. This time around, he is sparring with boxers that mirror “Maravilla’s” style.
— With regards to his weight, Williams said the losing weight and getting to 147 lbs. in the future would not be a problem. He also noted that depending on the purse size, money is the ultimate motivator if he needs to lose weight.
— A reporter asked Williams if he were to lose this fight, would a trilogy be in the works? Williams’ answer: “Most definitely.”
George Peterson, trainer of Paul Williams:
— Peterson said the he doesn’t believe Williams will ever step into the ring with either Floyd Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao, but noted that Pacquiao would be the more likely of the two fighters if a fight with Williams ever comes to fruition.
Information:
Martinez enters the fight as the WBC and Ring Magazine middleweight champion and sports a record of 45-2-2, with 24 KOs. Williams enters the rematch with a 39-1 record with 27 KOs.
Tickets for the event are priced at $400, $200, $100, and $50 and go on sale Friday, September 24. Tickets can be purchased at the Boardwalk Hall box office or by calling Ticketmaster at (800) 736-1420 or online at Ticketmaster.com
Photos by Claudia Bocanegra
One of the most highly anticipated rematches has finally been inked as according to Dan Rafael of espn.com, Middleweight world champion Sergio Martinez will defend his crown against Paul Williams on November 20 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.
“It’s nice to get it completed,” Dan Goossen, Williams’ promoter, said. “It’s not a matter of whose fault it is [that the fight took so long to make], it’s a matter that you have two of the most feared fighters in the world facing each other. It doesn’t just get made overnight. There’s a lot more to it. That’s what took time.”
Said Lou DiBella, Martinez’s promoter, “Martinez is not afraid of anybody and we did the deal that HBO wanted us to do. My take on the fight it’s the best f—— fight the rest of the year. Period. It’s the best fight for fight fans and they don’t have to fork over $60 to watch it on pay-per-view.”
The fight will be contracted at 157 pounds.
“It’s at 157 because we didn’t have a choice,” DiBella said. “Williams wanted the catch weight. There was an issue on the weight and we gave on the weight.”
When they met for the first time on Dec. 5 in the smaller arena upstairs at Boardwalk Hall, both fighters were knocked down in the first round of what turned out to be a rousing, slugfest and one of the most action-packed fights of the year. Williams won a heavily disputed majority decision in the nontitle bout.
“The fight can’t miss,” DiBella said. “You saw the first fight but I thought my guy won the first fight and I think he’ll win this one easier. I don’t think you’ll ever fight Paul Williams and have an easy fight, but I think this time he will win more clearly.”
“Sergio has just wanted to get back in the ring and wants to be treated like the middleweight champion,” DiBella said. “He knows what this fight means. He knows it’s the last time he will be bullied by anybody in a business sense. That won’t happen again if he wins. If he can beat Paul Williams after what he did to Pavlik and the damage he and Williams did to each other in the first fight, people should give him his props and he should be considered one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world below Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather. Sergio can establish himself at that level if he can perform in this fight. This is the prime of his career. This fight is everything to him.”
“Paul is very excited about the fight, so is [trainer] George [Peterson],” Goossen said. “It’s the type of fight boxing needs and wants and one that we’re looking to deliver. When everything is said and done, this is the fight everyone wants. But we never made any bones about the fact that we were looking for a welterweight fight. It wasn’t that we didn’t want a Sergio Martinez fight. We were hoping for the big fight at 147 pounds. We didn’t get it and therefore we went for the next biggest fight, and that was obviously against Sergio.
“The great thing about is it Paul will have more than three weeks to train for Martinez, which is what happened last time when Pavlik pulled out and we had to change opponents and train for a southpaw.”
Photo by Claudia Bocanegra
According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, World Middleweight champion Sergio Martinez will keep his Middleweight championship and vacate his WBC belt at Super Welterweight.
“Sergio didn’t like to do it, but he gave up the junior middleweight title,” Said Sampson Lewkowicz, who is Martinez advisor. “He’s fought twice at 160 pounds and he built up muscles. He thought maybe he will have to sacrifice too much to be at 154 again.”
“By keeping the middleweight title, he would also have an ability to drop down to fight a big fight at a catch weight,” Said Martinez promoter Lou DiBella. “He bulked up for Pavlik and he knows his body. He said he would have a problem going all the way down to 154 and there is no mega fight for him in that weight class. If there is an economic reason to go down as low as 155, he’d probably do it, but he’s a middleweight now.”
“What Sergio told me was that he preferred to stick at 160 because he wants to follow in the footsteps of his great idol, Monzon,” Lewkowicz said. “It means a lot to him to have the same title as Monzon and there is more prestige he believes in being middleweight champion than in the junior middleweight division.”
Photo by Claudia Bocanegra
I.B.H.O.F., Guest of Honor and WBC Super Welterweight and Middleweight Champion Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez accompanied by his Trainer Gabriel Sarmiento and Advisor Sampson Lewkowicz will be present at the 21st Annual International Boxing Hall of Fame weekend, beginning June 10th – 13th. In addition, to being welcomed as an Honorary Guest & Marshall, Martinez will also demonstrate an exhibition work out for boxing fans alike on Friday, June 11th & Saturday, June 12th, which will include a 5K run with I.B.H.O.F. members. The fighting pride of Argentina, is keeping himself in top physical condition, as he awaits his next opponent to be announced in either Super Welterweight or Middleweight division. A separate press release will be issued to announce Martinez’s’ up coming fight that will be televised on HBO. The Argentina born Middleweight World Champion, now residing out of Oxnard, California is also being recognized by Ring Magazine and is scheduled to receive a belt.
It’s been a month since Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez won the WBC & WBO Middleweight titles to add to his WBC Light Middleweight crown. Since then Martinez has enjoyed the fruits of his labour. He has attended ceremonies in Puerto Rico when he was officially awarded the WBO crown and then in Mexico where he was also belted by the WBC. He also fitted in visit’s to Ontario, Ca where he attended the Arreola-Adamek fight. He was mobbed by fans and seemed to enjoy his new found fame. He followed that with a trip to Las Vegas with his advisor Sampson Lewkowicz to watch the much anticipated Mayweather-Mosley fight, which could ironically end up being a spying mission as he has been linked with fighting both since.
Tomorrow in Madrid he has another engagement this time it’s not for him it’s for former stablemate and friend Javier Castillejo the former WBC Light Middleweight champion, a title now held by Martinez. The award for Castillejo who retired last year is recognising him and his achievements as a great champion.
It was also revealed exclusively that Martinez has been invited and prompted accepted a trip to Canastota to attend the Boxing Hall of fame from the 10-13 June.
According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, world Middleweight champion Sergio Martinez is plotting his next move and two names have come to the forefront in Winky Wright and Shane Mosley.
“I have to pursue all possibilities for Sergio, and Richard and I have discussed both Winky Wright and Shane Mosley,” said Lou DiBella, Martinez Promoter, adding that Wright was the one they discussed more seriously.
“I like Martinez. He has very good skills, a very smart fighter. That’s the kind of fight I am looking forward to and to show why I was the undisputed junior middleweight champion,” Wright told ESPN.com on Thursday.
“It all depends on my management and promoter and what they can bring to the table,” Martinez said. “Whoever they bring, I will fight them. Either division would be OK.”
“Martinez is a guy I would get up for, a guy I would be motivated to train hard for,” Wright said. “I know I haven’t fought for a while, but every time I go to the fights people ask me, ‘When are you getting back into the ring?’ I tell them there really hasn’t been anyone to fight. I couldn’t get a fight with Pavlik. Who else was there to fight? Martinez is the fight we’re looking for. He really beat Paul and then he beat Pavlik.
“When I fought Paul Williams I was coming off an even longer layoff, more than two years. People gotta realize the position I was in. I didn’t come back and pick and choose an easy opponent. Of course, I could fight and get three or four easy wins, but I want to fight the people that people think I will lose to. Williams was so tall and awkward. He was hard to fight, especially coming off a two-year layoff.”
“I’ve been fighting almost 20 years and for me to really get up and fight on an undercard it ain’t no challenge,” Wright said. “The money is low and the stakes aren’t high, so I am not driven to do it. In boxing you have to feel it. If I can’t get a challenge there is no need to be in the sport. I need a good, tough opponent. Fighting just anyone ain’t me.
“I talked to Richard and we’re definitely going to do what we can do to get the Martinez fight. I don’t see myself fighting too much longer unless we can come up with a good opponent. If I can’t get a big fight, I will leave the game. I love boxing, but boxing is not all I want to do. I had a great career. I can say I ran from no one. There are not too many who can say that. I fought everyone. I hope I can get another good fight before I leave the game.”
According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, former world middleweight champion, Kelly Pavlik will forgo his proposed rematch with Sergio Martinez according to his manager Cameron Dunkin.
Pavlik, who lost a unanimous decision and his title belts to Sergio Martinez on April 17 in Atlantic City, N.J., declined his contractual option for an immediate rematch on Tuesday and will move up to the 168-pound super middleweight division or the 175-pound lightweight heavyweight division.
“My take is that Kelly has been struggling to make weight. He made a comment the other day that he wished he had told us this five fights ago,” Dunkin said.
The decision to abandon the middleweight division was reached Monday when Pavlik, trainer Jack Loew and father and co-manager Mike Pavlik met together in their hometown of Youngstown, Ohio, with Dunkin on the telephone from Las Vegas.
“We sat down and talked,” Loew said. “We don’t know where we’re going. Kelly was 178 pounds yesterday. It’s not 178 pounds of fat. It’s 178 pounds of muscle. We’ll look at what’s the most attractive offer and go from there, 168 or 175. I think we’ll be comfortable in either weight class.
“It will be nice to train for the fight instead of battling the weight the last couple of weeks of camp. For this last fight, we hit a wall and it was hard to budge,” Loew explained. “It was horrible what we had to do to make the weight, sweating it off. It was really hard to get off. We had to get on the treadmill and then get in the sauna. We had to do that repeatedly
“In my own mind, there are several places we could go,” Dunkin said. “I don’t think he’ll have a problem with 168 but he may go to 175. It’s wide open. We want to take the best opportunities. We know what we’ve seen from Kelly, he doesn’t have the same snap he had earlier at 160, before [the weight loss] finally drained him. You want a guy to fight at his best weight.
“When we got to weigh 166 for the rematch with Jermain, it started where Kelly had to go from working out two times a day to three times a day to maintain his weight,” Loew said. “Then when we got to weigh 170 for Bernard, after that it was four times a day. We were training more for the weight than the fight. We have no excuses.
“We were 110 percent ready for Martinez and we really thought the weight would come down easier,” Loew said. “We were battling the weight and it cost us. We kept food in him, but not much. There is no reason to go through that anymore.
“Nobody can ever take away that he was middleweight champ of the world,” Loew said. “He’s still healthy, he still has that drive. But not to work out four or five times a day. That caught up to us. He’s got to train like regular fighter — get up, go running and go to the gym to box. Let’s concentrate on fighting again, not losing the weight. He’ll enjoy it more. It wasn’t good what we had to do.”
“I think Chad Dawson and Kelly Pavlik would be a very interesting fight. Chad is a great kid and fighter,” Loew said. “I think that would be a great fight for him and Kelly. Maybe we’ll be sitting ringside for Pascal-Dawson.”
Photo By Chris Farina/ Top Rank
New Undisputed Middleweight champion, Sergio Martinez talks about his recent win over Kelly Pavlik
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15rounds.com Claudia Bocanegra was ringside to capture the action as Sergio Martinez wrestled the World Middleweight tittle from Kelly Pavlik at Historic Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey
To see Sergio Martinez’s exuberance after Saturday’s fight, to hear him call a feeling inspired by the world middleweight championship “a tremendous and incredible pride that is impossible to describe,” was to feel nostalgia for the days Kelly Pavlik inspired the same in fans. So long ago.
Instead, by the time of Martinez’s ecstatic proclamation, the larger part of the smaller Youngstown contingent that made the trip to Atlantic City sadly filed out of Boardwalk Hall, many for the last time. Pavlik protested that he was still a young man, but by then he was protesting too much to an almost empty arena.
So it went Saturday. In an excellent fight broadcast by HBO, Argentine Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez decisioned Ohio’s Kelly “The Ghost” Pavlik to become the lineal middleweight champion of the world. And for once the ringside judges had it right and unanimous: 115-112, 115-111, 116-111.
My scorecard concurred. I had it 116-112 for Martinez, to whom I gave rounds 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11 and 12. Rounds 5, 6 and 7 went to Pavlik – with the seventh being a 10-8 round because of a missed tripping call by referee David Fields. I had round 8 even, 10-10.
That wasn’t a ring-side scorecard. It wasn’t even a live-TV scorecard. Instead it was a two-hours-later-via-DVR scorecard. I forewent the live action to attend a San Antonio Symphony Orchestra “Fiesta Pops” performance at Majestic Theatre, which featured Los Tres Reyes and Campanas de America. Fiesta is a big deal in my new hometown. I suppose I like orchestral music and mariachis, too.
But had you told me in 2007 I would forego a live Kelly Pavlik broadcast to watch guys in tight pants accompanied by a woodwinds section, I’d have hit you with a right cross – then snapped my wrist back over the ear like “The Ghost” himself.
Thirty-eight months ago, Pavlik blasted Jose Luis Zertuche, and a lot of us got excited. He then knocked out Edison Miranda. After that fight, I wrote that Pavlik’s simple style was perfect for undoing Jermain Taylor. It was indeed. Pavlik flattened the undefeated, undisputed world middleweight champion in seven rounds. Nothing has been the same since.
I have no regrets about attending last night’s concert in lieu of Pavlik’s fight. Sergio Martinez might have deserved better, though.
Martinez, after all, is the closest thing we’ve seen to a prime Roy Jones Jr. in about a decade. Ten years of combing urban American gyms – 100 “RJJ” imitators in each – turned up nothing. We were looking in the wrong country; an Argentine soccer player who tried boxing at age 20 was the professional we sought. Go figure.
Martinez’s secret? His legs. They never stop firing. He has good head movement. He punches well enough to keep much bigger guys like Pavlik and Paul Williams honest, obviously. But his legs are what make him exceptional. He eschews the skittish upper-body flinching of American boxers and all their talk about “angles” and “footwork” for the more reliable force of his quadriceps. He keeps his hands down – never a great idea in prizefighting – but he makes that play the only way you can: with a tucked chin and constant legwork.
That’s what discouraged Pavlik Saturday. And “discouragement” is the perfect word to describe what has plagued Pavlik in his two career losses, and one borrowed from Pavlik’s trainer Jack Loew. So long as he is engaged in a test of courage with an opponent, Pavlik prevails. You hit me, I hit you, and we keep doing this till one of us is unconscious; there’s still not a 160-pounder in the world who’s going to beat Pavlik at that game. But once you disengage from battle with Pavlik, you remove courage from the equation – almost as if Pavlik were raised in Culiacán, Sinaloa instead of Youngstown, Ohio.
Martinez disengaged Pavlik’s bravery early in the fight and left him discouraged throughout. That’s how an inflated super welterweight beat the hell out of a shrunken light heavy.
Pavlik did rally to make the fight interesting. In the fifth round, Martinez stumbled into a straight left – the very way Loew promised he would – and that emboldened the champ. In the sixth, Pavlik tried to follow Loew’s directions by corralling Martinez with left hook/right cross combos, those “three-twos” Loew demanded. But ultimately Martinez was too fast and countered too hard for that gambit. In the seventh, Pavlik combined a right uppercut and a left leg to send Martinez to the mat. Both guys knew it wasn’t a real knockdown, though, and Pavlik didn’t gain any advantage from it but an extra point.
Martinez cut Pavlik three ways in the ninth: long, deep and often. It changed everything about both men. Afterwards, Pavlik pushed off his jab – nervously moving his glove and body in opposite directions. Then Martinez outhit and outclassed him through the championship rounds.
After the 11th, Pavlik, pale face bright with blood, walked with his shoulders slumped to a somber corner that looked discouraged as he did. Martinez, on the other hand, caught a flurry of verbal abuse from his trainer; why hadn’t he pressed the attack and stopped Pavlik? From impossibility to expectation in 33 minutes.
Whither Kelly Pavlik? Promoter Top Rank will stick with him – hell, they’re sticking with Antonio Margarito, aren’t they? – and at some point, as a heavy underdog, Pavlik might just surprise the eventual winner of Showtime’s “Super Six” tournament. For now, though, he’s off the radar. But he’s still a class act, and so he might well prefer it that way.
Sergio Martinez, meanwhile, is boxing’s new thing. He has a rematch clause with Pavlik and an unofficial mandate for one with Paul Williams. But since neither of those guys can now sell tickets in Atlantic City, here’s an idea: Fight both in Buenos Aires. Put the “world” back in world middleweight champion, Sergio, why not?
Bart Barry can be reached via Twitter.com/bartbarry
Photo by Claudia Bocanegra
Some thought Sergio Martinez was robbed out of a victory just four months ago at the Adrian Phillips Ballroom in Boardwalk Hall when he fought Paul Williams. Well just a few yards away in the same building and a different opponent, Martinez got his just due as he won the undisputed Middleweight championship of the world by scoring a unanimous decision over Kelly Pavlik at historic Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.
After a non-descript round one, Pavlik was cut from a possible butt around the left eye. That gave Martinez confidence as he began to drop his hands and land some slick combinations to take the second. Pavlik had a dcecent round three as he scored with some right hands. Round four saw Martinez gain alot of confidence as he began to showboat around as he landed some hard hooks and than he buckled Pavlik with a hard 1-2. In round five, Pavlik started getting through with solid rights over the top and the incited the pro-Pavlik crowd of chants of “Kelly Kelly Kelly”..
In round seven, Pavlik landed a little uppercut on the inside and combined with the feet of the two men getting tangled, Pavlik was awarded a knockdown. Pavlik punctuated the round with a hard right over the top. Martinez got back to boxing in round eight as he landed some nice small combinations to steal the round. The fight turned in round nine as Martinez battered Pavlik with hard quick combination’s with the champions face being reduced to a crimson mask as blood streamed down from both side of his face. It was much of the same in the tenth as Martinez landed some nice straight lefts that had the face of Pavlik looking like mince meat. Martinez started the twelth by moving in but landed some nice straight lefts and Pavlik looked the like the same fighter who lost to Bernard Hopkins in the very same ring nineteen months ago.
Martinez, 159 1/2 lbs of Madrid, Spain won by scores of 116-111; 115-111 and 115-112 (15rounds.com had it 115-113) to become a two-time champion and is now 45-2-2.
Pavlik, 159 1/2 lbs of Youngstown, OH is now 36-2.
Glen Tapia remained undefeated with a spirited four round unanimous decision over James Winchester in a Jr. Middleweight bout.
Tapia got the better of the action as he landed several barrages and had Winchester in trouble on a couple of occasions. Tapia dropped Winchester early in round two with a big right hand and almost ended the fight with one of those flurries that had Winchester bleeding from both the nose and mouth. Winchester tried to giad the young Tapia with some “smack talk” and the end of round tghree, but Tapia stayed composed and cruised home for the victory of 40-35 on all cards.
Tapia, 152 lbs of Passaic, NJ is now 6-0. Winchester, 153 1/2 lbs of Greensboro, NC is now 10-4.
Prized prospect Matt Korobov was less than impressive yet cruised to an eight round unanimous decision over Joshua Snyder in a Middleweight bout.
Korobox was slicker and landed the cleaner combinations but seemed ti run out of gas midway through the fight. Snyder was unable to capitalize with the exception of a few brief moments when he was able to trap Korobov against the ropes.
Korobov, 160 lbs of St. Petersburg, FL won by scores of 79-73; 79-73 and 78-74 to remain undefeated at 11-0. Snyder, 159 1/2 lbs of Berlin, MD is now 8-5-1.
Mike Jones remained undefeated as he battered Hector Munoz all over the ring and the bout was stopped in round five of their scheduled ten round Welterweight bout.
Jones ripped Munoz with hard shots to the head and body while using an effective jab to keep the gritty Munoz off og him. Munoz showed a terrific chin as he endured many vicious shots without ever going down.
The fine came when Jones landed some hard shots to the head that had Munoz rocked all over the ring and one huge right to the head that was preceded by four big power shots had referee Benji Esteves stop the bout at 2:03 of round five.
Jones, 146 lbs of Philadelphia will now look for a possible HBO debut on June 5th at Yankee Stadium with a record of 21-0 with seventten knockouts. Munoz, 146 lbs of Albuquerque, NM is now 18-3-1
Chris Hazimihalis dropped Ramon Ellis in round one and needed just eighty-eight seconds to score the first round knockout in their scheduled four round Lightweight bout.
hazimihalis dropped Ellis with a big right hand. Ellis got to his feet and when the action resumed Hazimilhalis swarmed Ellis and the fight was stopped.
Hazimihalis, 136 lbs of Youngstown, OH is now 2-0 with two knockouts. Ellis, 138 lbs of Philadelphia is 0-5
The son of the legend, Ronald Hearns annihilated Delray Raines inside of one round of a scheduled eight round Jr. Middleweight bout.
Hearns dropped Raines with a big right hand in the first minute of the bout. Hearns finished the deal off with a booming right that sent Raines down for the ten count at 1:47 of round one.
Hearns, 155 lbs of Southfield, MI is now 25-1 with nineteen knockouts. Raines, 157 lbs of Paris, AR is now 17-8-1.
In a mild upset, Vincent Arroyo stunned previously undefeated by scoring a knockout in the final round of their scheduled eight round Jr. Welterweight bout.
Bryan dominated the first seven round as he boxed very well using a nice right hand behind singe and double jabs. Bryan knocked out Arroyo’s mouthpiece on two ocassions as he got through with solid hooks.
Seemingly well ahead on the cards, Arroyo caught Bryan with a big left hoof that sent Bryan back towards the ropes. With Bryan squatting on the bottom rope and on his way down, Arroyo blasted Bryan with two hard shots and knocked him at 1:13 of the final round.
Arroyo, 142 lbs of Amherst, NY is now 10-1 with seven knockouts. Bryan, 142 lbs of Paterson, NJ suffers his first defeat and is now 13-1.
Former hot Heavyweight contender, Dominick Guinn stopped Terrell Nelson after round seven of a scheduled eight round bout.
Guinn Dropped Nelson in round one from a big over hand right. Guinn dominated the actionm for most of the fight with exceptions of brief offense from Nelson. In round seven, Guinn landed two huge right hands that drove him back and in trouble. Nelson failed to answer the bell and Guinn got the stoppage victory.
Guinn, 229 1/2 lbs of Houston, TX and is now 33-6-1 with twenty-two knockouts. Nelson, 252 lbs of Plainfield, NJ is now 8-10.
Photo by Claudia Bocanegra
Kelly Pavlik 159.5 – Sergio Martinez 159.5
Mike Jones 146 – Hector Munoz 146
Matt Korobov 160 – Josh Snyder 159.5
15rounds.com Claudia Bocanegra was at Gallagher’s Steakhouse in New York City to capture the images from the final press conference that featured Kelly Pavlik and Sergio Martinez before the two will showdown this Saturday night for Pavlik’s world Middleweight championship in Atlantic City.
One of the most underrated boxers in world Boxing Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez 44-2-2(24) is just six weeks from the biggest fight of his career when he challenge’s Kelly Pavlik for his WBC/WBO Middleweight titles. Originally from one of the tough suburbs of Buenos Aires in Argentina Martinez has carefully honed his skills since making his debut in late 1996. He quickly raced to 16-0-1(6) with all his fights taking place in his homeland. Then he got the call to take on another young gun a certain Antonio Margarito it was on the undercard of Marco Antonio Barrera-V-Erik Morales 1. Despite his lack of pro experience it was a great chance for Martinez. It proved to be to soon for him and he was dually stopped in the seventh. Not one to be perturbed he was back in the ring 2 months later and remained active and winning the Argentinean Welterweight title the following year. He moved to Europe in 2002 and after 3 fights in Britain he bided his time with several stay busy fights until he caught the attention of promoter Lou DiBella who brought him to America in 2007 where he won a WBC eliminator at Light Middleweight. Over the next year he stayed active though couldn’t force a fight with then champion Vernon Forrest. In October 2008 he fought Alex Bunema for the WBC 154 Interim Championship, it proved to be a coming out party when he stopped Bunema in the eighth round. In 2009 his star rose higher in two fights even though he won neither…officially. First came Kermit Cintron in the February, Cintron was down and out in the seventh. Inexplicably Frank Santore Jr. allowed the fight to continue. When Martinez appeared to of done enough to of won but again was foiled this time by two of the judges who scored the fight a draw. When the much anticipated Kelly Pavlik-Paul Williams fell out for the umpteenth time Martinez got his chance and faced Paul Williams up at Middleweight. In one of the fights of the year both guys put it all on the line and though many ringside thought “Maravilla” had done enough to take the fight he was again taken away from him by the judges. Leaving Williams to take the majority decision. After a break when Martinez went on a cruise before Christmas he got the call to fight Pavlik for the titles. It provides Martinez with his ultimate opportunity, if he can take this one it’ll go along way to undoing the two wrong’s in his mind from last year.
Hello Sergio, welcome to 15rounds.com
Anson Wainwright – I believe you will be fighting Kelly Pavlik on 17 April In Atlantic City. That looks a tremendous fight. How do you see it? What do you see as Pavlik’s strengths and weaknesses?
Sergio Martinez – I think it will be a great fight; it can be a tremendous battle as I had with Paul Williams. Kelly Pavlik is a big puncher with a lot of power. He has an explosive right hand and I will have to take all precautions to avoid it. I see few weaknesses in Pavlik, but the few that he has I will exploit. In a few days my team and I will begin to discuss Pavlik’s past performances and set up a game plan to beat him.
Anson Wainwright – Last year your profile increased though you didn’t win either fight. First you drew with Kermit Cintron then lost a majority decision against Paul Williams. Looking back how do you see both of those fights now?
Sergio Martinez – For the Cintron fight he waited for me to attack and tried countering me all night; he needed to do more to win my world title… the ruling was an embarrassment to boxing, first to cancel my KO in the 7th round and then giving me a draw.
In the Paul Williams fight we both laid down all our cards in the ring, when you get two great competitors like that you get a classic fight. It was a close fight and we both wanted a victory that night but, I believe I was the better fighter that night. How can we forget that horrible judges score card (Mr. Benoist) giving me only one round the whole entire fight, WOW!! That’s was crazy.
Anson Wainwright – You were 35 on 21 February but seem to have become a better fighter with age. What do you put this down too?
Sergio Martinez – Personally, I believe I am in the best shape of my life. As I have gotten older I notice that my fitness has improved and my boxing has quantum leaped. I always knew to have success in this sport you need to be fully committed, disciplined, and have a relentless preparation program. I guess all my learning experiences and pitfalls has brought me to this point of my life which means that today I am entering the prime of my career.
Anson Wainwright – How do you feel fighting at Middleweight last time out? Do you intend to go back to 154 or are you a Middleweight from now on?
Sergio Martinez – I feel really good fighting at Middleweight; I need to continue training hard to maintain my muscle mass to keep my strength at middleweight. Not sure wants going to happen after April 17th my managers, my team, and I will evaluate my options I have for my future after the fight.
Anson Wainwright – I believe you live in Spain now? What made you decide to leave your homeland of Argentina to live in Spain? Do you get recognised in Madrid by people or are you relatively unknown?
Sergio Martinez – In the year 2002, I decided to migrate to Europe. Due to the bad economy in Argentina I went to Spain for work and boxing and decided to stay. I am not very popular in Spain because boxing is not as popular as other sports like soccer. I currently live in Oxnard, California which I love but it’s very different and low key.
Anson Wainwright – Can you tell us about the team that you have around you. Who is your manager, trainer & promoter? Also what gym do you use to get ready for a fight?
Sergio Martinez – My team is Lou Dibella (promoter), Sampson Lewkowicz (matchmaker), Ricardo Atocha (manager), Juan Leon Diaz (coach), Cicilio Flores (2nd), and Daniel Sanchez (2nd). I do all my preparations and conditioning at World Crown Sports Training Centre located in Oxnard, CA.
Anson Wainwright – Your from Buenos Aires originally, can you tell us about how life was in your early years and how it took you towards a career in Boxing?
Sergio Martinez – I grew up in a very humble home in a low poverty neighbourhood. At age 14 I started working because the economic situation at home was like any poor family. At age 20 I started to box, my first day at a boxing gym was the May 2, 1995 I tried it once and I was hooked, I have not stopped ever since.
Anson Wainwright – When you’re not boxing what do you like to do with your spare time?
Sergio Martinez – If I am not in California training or relaxing I am in Spain hanging out with friends and family. One of my greatest pleasures in my life is to travel the world and get to visit different countries and meet new people. I try to visit my family in my country Argentina as much as possible. I am constantly moving and staying active. I never stop training; I like to stay in shape all year round.
Anson Wainwright – Looking back at the Antonio Margarito fight in 2000 do you think he was loading his gloves back then or was it just a bad night at the office?
Sergio Martinez – The night of February 19, 2000 when I fought Margarito, I did not think he had his gloves loaded. He was the better fighter that night and he was better prepared than I was. I have no regrets and it was early in my career; I have become a better fighter because of it.
Anson Wainwright – When you retire from Boxing do you intend to still be involved with the sport in some capacity or do you have other business venture’s? If so what?
Sergio Martinez – I am 100% focused in my boxing career; I am taking it one step at a time right now.
Anson Wainwright – Who was your Boxing hero?
Sergio Martinez – Muhammad Ali and Carlos Monzon.
Anson Wainwright – Do you have a message for Pavlik & your fans ahead of the fight?
Sergio Martinez – First, I would like to thank Kelly Pavlik for giving me the opportunity to fight for his titles. It is an honour to confront a great champion that he is. He is considered by many to be the best in the world and it only makes sense for me to fight the best.
I also want to thank my fans for their loyalty, their support and I promise another great performance the night of April 17th in Atlantic City NJ. I want to send a big hello to my family and friends back home in Argentina. This is my best training camp ever, I feel great, and I can’t wait till fight night.
Thanks for your time Maravilla
Thank you very much, Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez
Anson Wainwright
15rounds.com
Wednesday brought some good news about Kelly Pavlik. All is ready but the contracts for Pavlik to defend his middleweight championship in April against Sergio Martinez. It isn’t the rematch we wanted for Martinez after his fantastic fight with Paul Williams two months ago, but it’s better than any match we’ve seen Pavlik make since Bernard Hopkins in 2008.
It’s also an occasion for examining personal bias, something I’ve wanted to do for a while. The last three years in the boxing gym – privy to arguments between numerous ethnicities and nationalities – have seen me play a role like neutral solon. When a Filipino and a Mexican argue about who won Pacquiao-Marquez II, I’m the tiebreaker, in other words, chastening both for ethnic bias.
But observing’s not as much fun as participating. That’s why I promised the next time a prizefighter who looked like me and came from my country was in a major fight, I’d do an examination of conscience – as the Xaverian brothers at St. John’s High School used to put it.
Kelly Pavlik meets those criteria. What follows, then, is a good-faith effort to better understand why we cheer the fighters we cheer, and where to draw a sensible line for cheering against others.
Folks who put on gloves and headgear tend to cheer fighters according to this hierarchy: 1. Race, 2. Fighting style, 3. Nationality, 4. Personality. This is supposed to be the post-racial world of 2010, I know, so if it makes things more palatable, go ahead and attribute our fixation on race to the forum in which it appears: We routinely get punched in the head.
As a white man in a country led by a black man, I’m now able to enjoy some newfound liberty. I think cheering for someone because he shares your race does not make you a racist. Cheering against someone because he does not share your race, though, may be something you shouldn’t do.
In an important essay about the need for affirmative action, written 23 years ago and subtitled “Reckoning with Unconscious Racism,” Professor Charles Lawrence made a thought-provoking case that anticipated a day when all racism was unconscious. Those of you who’ve suffered through some form of corporate diversity training are surely rolling your eyes right now, saying, “‘Unconscious racism’! Where does it end?”
Point taken. But consider: When the CEO of a Fortune 500 company acts ethically in the task of choosing his replacement, what qualities does he look for? After all, he’s done a fine job for the shareholders, and it’s his professional obligation to find someone who’ll do the same.
Acting in the best interests of his employer, then, he’ll select someone who reminds him of himself. That’s why there aren’t many latina women leading Fortune 500 companies. They’re not all less-qualified. Their predecessors aren’t racists. And yet the boardroom remains monochrome.
Two points, there, pertaining to prizefighting. First, we don’t need to be racists to cheer guys who remind us of ourselves. Second, we do need to be conscious of this predisposition before having our shoulders measured for that cloak of objectivity. That’s true for all sports fans, of course, but boxing, for all the criticism we accept, has always treated ethnic bias more openly than our peers; we expect more honesty from ourselves as fans.
Kelly Pavlik is white like me. He fights in the simple way – jab, hook, cross – that appeals to someone with my slower reflexes. He’s an American. He never belittles an opponent.
That role of the neutral solon I play in the gym? It partially reduces to my people not having a very impressive run in boxing these last 25 years.
That’s also the reason I feel an initial spark of interest about Pavlik that I don’t feel when I hear about Sergio Martinez or Paul Williams. After I think about Martinez or Williams matching up against Pavlik, I might well favor them or even cheer them against Pavlik. But that happens afterwards, and consciously.
What fearlessness I have in wandering about this minefield of bad faith and ruined reputation comes courtesy of Shannon Briggs. Before his 2006 fight with Sergei Liakhovich in Phoenix, Briggs called himself the “Great Black Hope” – in contrast to all the Eurasian heavyweight champions at the time. Intoxicated by a chance to represent his people, Briggs also made allegations of racism at the Liakhovich camp.
How much did this bother a Belarusian making a first title defense in his adopted hometown? In the post-fight press conference, after he’d lost his WBO belt in the fight’s final second, Liakhovich brought it up almost immediately. He turned to Briggs and said, in broken English, he wanted everyone to know he’d never said anything derogatory about black Americans.
Briggs said, “I know.” Then he explained it was just a ruse to sell the fight and get in Liakhovich’s head. Don King cackled away. Liakhovich looked more relieved than offended. And I promised myself I’d never be called a racist and take it seriously again.
Still, voluntary examinations of conscience can’t hurt, especially when I cheer against people.
I cheered against Fernando Vargas when he fought Oscar De La Hoya, but obviously not because he was latino. I’ll cheer against Floyd Mayweather when he fights Shane Mosley, but obviously not because he’s black. I’ll cheer against Wladimir Klitschko when he fights Eddie Chambers, though I can’t imagine it’s because he’s white.
I don’t like the personalities of Vargas or Mayweather, or the fighting style of Klitschko.
I’ll cheer for whomever I wish, then, for whatever reason – and that will probably mean Kelly Pavlik. But when I cheer against someone, I’ll do my best to ensure it’s not for ethnic reasons. I think that’s about as much as we can ask of ourselves.
Bart Barry can be reached via Twitter.com/bartbarry
Photo by Chris Farina/Top Rank
According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, world Middleweight champion, Kelly Pavlik will defend his crwon against Jr. Middleweight champion Sergio Martinez on April 17th in Atlantic City and will be televised by HBO.
“We’re waiting for Lou [DiBella, Martinez’s promoter] to send back the contract, which he said there are no problems with,” said Top Rank’s Bob Arum, Pavlik’s promoter. “Kelly is on board and we’re planning a press conference in New York, but HBO wanted us to hold off until after the Olympics. But the fight is agreed to. We’re good on our side and Lou tells me it’s good to go on his side. We’re putting off the press conference strictly because of the Olympics.”
“It’s a great Atlantic City fight, especially with Williams-Martinez having just taken place there and Pavlik being the most proven attraction there in the post-[Arturo] Gatti era,” DiBella said.
“It’s a terrific fight and I think Kelly is going to win, but we know this is a very tough fight,” Said Bob Arumn who promotes Pavlik.”But I think that Kelly has the firepower to come through and win the fight.” Pavlik, who is 6-foot-2, is the naturally bigger and stronger fighter compared to the 5-11 Martinez, 34, who is a southpaw and faster.
“Sergio Martinez is the best 154-pound fighter in the world, but he simply could not turn down an opportunity to take on the true middleweight champion of the world,” DiBella said. “While size is not his advantage, speed is, and sometimes David slays Goliath. We had to bite the bullet a little bit, but it’s a great opportunity even though it is above the weight where Sergio prefers to fight. But he didn’t do so badly at middleweight against Williams did he? We all know that a lot of people thought Sergio won that fight. At some point, he’d like to move down and fight in his own weight class, but this is a big opportunity for him.”
“There are no substantive issues on the paperwork between me and Arum,” DiBella said. “The only issue that exists is that Kelly has had some health issues and I want to know that if Sergio trains for the fight and Kelly is forced to pull out for some reason that Sergio would able to fight another opponent we agree on in Montreal on the Bute undercard.
“If something happens and Kelly’s staph infection comes back or he has another problem with his hand, we want to be able to fight somebody else on that date. My guy can’t have another long layoff. But there is no issue about anything between me and Bob. I just need to get this worked out with HBO, but I don’t think it is going to be an issue.”
Pavlik, 36-1 with thirty-two knockouts and Martinez will compete in a bout for which HBO will be televising another fight from Montreal featuring IBF Super Middleweight champion Lucian Bute defending against Edison Miranda.
These two bout could be the groundwork for a possible Bute-Pavlik fight later in 2010 should both champions retain their titles.
Photo by Chris Farina/Top Rank
Negotiations are moving ahead to make a Kelly Pavlik-Sergio Martinez fight this May. While they are still at the early stages it seems as though Martinez hot off a disputed loss to Paul Williams could challenge Pavlik for his WBC/WBO Middleweight crown.
It appears as though it would happen in Atlantic City where Pavlik is extremely popular and Martinez fought last time out.
Martinez agent Sampson Lewkowicz told 15rounds.com that “It’s and Exciting fight that people want to see” He also added that they had an offer to fight the rematch with Paul Williams but preferred to get his man a straight title shot. He also said he is requesting WBC approved judges.
So finally it appears that things are getting back to normal in the Boxing world after being held hostage regarding the on off on and finally off negotiations between Floyd Mayweather & Manny Pacquiao.
Photo by Chris Farina of Top Rank