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Last December, Paul ‘The Punisher’ Williams won a majority decision over Sergio Gabriel Martinez in a non-title middleweight bout that many felt Martinez was the victor. This past Saturday the two fighters returned to Atlantic City for what the Spanish call ‘venganza’ (revenge) and what Paul Williams aimed to show was ‘payback’ by matching Martinez blow for blow and show he was truly the better fighter. However in the end, the post fight press conference lasted far longer than the middleweight championship bout.
Before the bout, promoter Lou DiBella commented, “I think our chances are 50/50 of winning this bout.” Actually, Dibella’s chances were good for a knockout win for Martinez, as Williams is known as a slow starter who comes in strong in the later rounds.
The Martinez camp, having already seen scoring in the previous bout with Williams go 114-114 (judge Julie Lederman), judge Lynn Carter (115-113 for Williams) and judge Pierre Benoist (119-110 for Williams), came back to Atlantic City after extreme hard work and preparations to exploit Williams’ weaknesses with the full knowledge it needed a knockout to beat Williams.
Entering the ring, Martinez did not appear to have bulked up, but appeared as if his body weight and muscle mass were more evenly distributed as a natural middleweight. This was a tribute to the hard work of the trainer of Martinez, Gabriel Sarmiento, who did prove Lou DiBella’s statement “This man is the best trainer in the world!” Sarmiento has proven to be as much Argentina’s successor to Amilcar Brusa, the trainer of the late great Carlos Monzon, as Martinez has been Argentina’s middleweight champion successor to Monzon. Sarmiento predicted a knockout in the second round in this fight, based on the number of weaknesses he exposed on Williams, and Paul’s lack of ability to make style corrections.
In the first round, Martinez came out aggressively throwing power punches, strictly heavy artillery to the head and body, most power right hands and right left power punch combinations. Williams, getting hit, threw right hooks and right jabs and occasional left hands to the body, but could not match the power of the blows being landed by Martinez.
Williams did not fight tall and came down in stance to trade with Martinez blow by blow, a style mistake. Despite a catch weight of 158 pounds for the WBC title bout, Williams still appears to be a bulked up welterweight lacking power at middleweight.
Williams, eating too many power shots, is forced to hold on whenever any punch of substance lands. Martinez wildly and stubbornly with determination, fought his way out of the clinches with body shots and clubbing right hand power shots to the heads, baiting Williams into continuing the in-fighting. Williams continued to come down to Martinez and lean forward and drop his left hand off the jab, making his chin a vulnerable target for counter right power shots at close range, and neutralizing his key height and reach advantage
In the second round, Williams threw straight lefts and rights, but the left of Martinez was getting through with speed and power over and through the Williams left. In a middleweight duel of left hands, speed and power were the dominant factors as both fighters threw lefts, and Martinez left hand got through faster and with spectacular power, rolling Williams eyes and sending him to the canvas out cold at 1:10 of the round.
Referee Earl Brown knelt over Williams and began a senseless count, and reached the count of ten before stopping the bout for a knockout, with Williams not moving or responding, who initially appeared motionless, unconscious or worse for at least 45 seconds, slumped face first on the canvas, his eyes rolling.
Williams was out cold immediately after being hit, even before his face hit the canvas. Perhaps the true ‘Maravilla’ was not Martinez the champion, but Williams later leaving the ring on his own power after giving those in attendance at Boardwalk Hall quite a scare for a moment. The way the head and body of Williams hit the canvas in the center of the ring was reminiscent of the way the late ex-champion Greg Page appeared after being knocked out by a left hand thrown by Dale Crowe in March 2001.
In an exclusive post-fight interview, boxing promoter Roy Foreman (the brother of former world heavyweight champion George Foreman) explained in detail why the fight went the way it did, and what the root causes were in the Williams camp which accounted for his poor performance against a fighter he had beaten previously.
“Williams was fighting a payback fight. This was like a round 13 and round 14 fight. Williams went down to the level of Martinez to show everyone the first fight was a fluke, to show everyone he could knock out Martinez. He bent down to Martinez’ level.”
Foreman continued, “The first round was a payback round. Payback means when this guy hits me, I’ll hit you back harder-rather than going back and establishing myself and seeing mistakes I made. For example, saying to yourself why did I get hit with that shot?”
“We learned into the bout a 6’1″ fighter went down to a 5’10” guy and made it an even fight. Not that Martinez was an effective puncher; he was just throwing power shots. Martinez came in fighting like he was supposed to do-just go for the knockout. He likes being world champion. The guy was fighting for God and country, or country and god, not necessarily in that order. Williams just fought the wrong fight.”
Roy Foreman continued, “My brother George Foreman knew how to fight tall! George always knew he was the elephant in the ring. George learned from his losses with Muhammad Ali, Jimmy Young and Evander Holyfield. George learned he wasn’t invincible.”
And what of the future for Sergio Gabriel Martinez? “He could fight Pacquiao at a catch weight. As a boxing promoter, if I was the promoter here, that’s the fight I’d try to make. Outside of the heavyweights, Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao rule. No one under 160 pounds will ever beat them. What weight would Martinez be at to fight either Floyd or Manny? That is the question! Martinez would have to come down to 154 pounds to fight wither Floyd or Manny.”
Asked about Floyd Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao fighting Paul Williams or Sergio Gabriel Martinez before the bout, noted boxing trainer and commentary Emmanuel Steward felt “Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao are exceptional athletes, talented strong punchers. Williams and Martinez wouldn’t fare well with either of them. Those matchups are fights I don’t want to see. Pacquiao and Mayweather would best match against younger, taller, fresher fighters.”
In contrast, popular boxing historian Bert Sugar, wearing his trademark hat and holding his cigar, stated point blank before the bout “either of these fighters against Manny Pacquiao, that’s the fight we (the boxing public) want to see!”
When asked about fighting Pacquiao at 154 pounds Martinez trainer Gabriel Sarmiento stated “Yes, we could come down to 154 pounds for such a bout, which would require a lot of hard work and preparations for the bout.”
According to Martinez, “Manny Pacquiao is too small (to be my opponent). I don’t believe that it (a bout between me and Manny) will ever happen. Floyd Mayweather? Most likely that would be a fight we (the Martinez camp and DiBella Entertainment) could make. He’s a great fighter and I would love to do it!”
Promoter Lou DiBella summed up the possibilities. “Sergio wants three more fights and out, maybe that becomes four more fights. He wants two more years and he wants out. He wants the big money fight. You can’t chase Mayweather or Pacquiao. I don’t think they watched this fight about Martinez or Williams as a future opponent. I’m not worried about it. I have the best fighter in the world. Sergio beat Kelly Pavlik to a pulp. As big as Paul Williams is, despite his height, he’s a welterweight (the lesson everyone learned). ”
“This is like a dream! This is just the product of hard work and being in sports all my life. I get paid to put on a good show, and that’s what I do,” stated Martinez. “Sergio Gabriel Martinez is living the American dream!” exclaimed promoter DiBella. How many guys in their thirties can come to America, who nobody even knows, and accomplish all this? If you’re (Manny) Pacquiao, would you go near him (now)?
“Martinez will have a problem making fights because that’s how amazingly good he is. I know what I’ve got. I’ve got the best fighter in the world!” Manny Pacquiao versus rising superstar Sergio Gabriel Martinez is the ‘dream’ fight the international public wants right now. The burden is now on promoter Lou DiBella to make that dream reality.
Results
Steve Upser Chambers W8 Bayan Jargal, Welterweights
Scoring: 77-75, 78-74 Chambers, 77-75 Jargal
Chambers (brother of Eddie Chambers), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 23-1-1 (6) appeared to get a hometown decision over Jargal fighting out of Arlington, Virginia, 15-1-3 (10),
In a bought that looked to be closer to a draw. Jargal came forward as aggressor, winning first four rounds. Chambers hooked off the jab to win rounds seven through ten. Rounds five and six were close, and could have gone either way. Bout closer than scoring indicated. Boardwalk Hall crowd booed decision. Chambers on the ropes far too much early on.
Zsolt Erdei W8 Samson Onyango, Light Heavyweights
Scoring: 80-72 twice and 79-73 for Erdei
Erdei, the former world light heavyweight and cruiserweight champion, from Fot, Hungary, is now 32-0 (18), while Onyango, Nairobi, Kenya, falls to 20-7 (13). Erdei had an entire section of Hungarians cheering for him throughout this bout, several hundred people cheering and waving flags.
Erdei threw many left-right, left-right left head combinations. Onyango preferred to fight backing up as a counter puncher. Onyango, a taller, muscular opponent with an excellent defense with height and reach advantage, clearly won the fifth and sixth rounds by being more aggressive, and landing left jabs and more punches overall, not indicated by the scoring. Erdei fought an excellent technical war, winning six of the rounds.
Tony Thompson TKO4 Paul Marinaccio, Heavyweights
Time: 2:02 of round
Thompson 35-2 (22) in a tune-up before heading into an eliminator for the IBF # 1 position, landed continuous left hand heads to the head of a much slower Marinaccio now 25-5-3 (11). By the third round, Thompson was landing numerous power shots to Marinaccio’s head, who was in a hold on survival mode. Marinaccio tried to counter in center ring without landing many effective punches and lacked power.
In the fourth, Thompson trapped a too slow Marinaccio in a corner and landed numerous head shots with both hands, leaving Marinaccio defenseless. Marinnaccio fortunately unhurt. Good stoppage by David Fields.
Fernando Guerrero TKO4 Saul (Baby) Duran, Middleweights
Time: 1:06 of round four
Guerrero 20-0 (16) began landing right hooks and straight lefts immediately in round one. The veteran Duran 36-18-3 (29) landed a few counters and hung tough, taking some brutal shots early on.
A right hand dropped Duran in the second, who beat the count and battled back evenly in exchanges. In round three, Duran went to the inside and threw hooks to the body and straight punches to the chin. Guerrero turned counterpuncher along the ropes and traded blow for blow with Duran during heated exchanges on the inside. Duran’s best round. In the fourth, a vicious body shot by Guerrero dropped Duran for the full ten count at 1:04.
Luis Del Valle TKO 3 Noe (Chemaco) Lopez Jr., Featherweights
Time: 1:03 of round four
In a brief rematch of a controversial bout won by Del Valle 11-0 (9) on a head butt cut, southpaw Lopez 6-7 (4) fought a close first round, won by Del Valle landed left-right combinations with Lopez also throwing some shots. Lopez, a southpaw, had potential to win, but failed to put his right foot outside of Lopez’ lead left foot in order to take away Del Valle’s right hand, and step to the outside and land left hands to the jaw.
The second round featured some surprisingly good exchanges, with Del Valle doing most damage after trapping Lopez in a corner. A left hook to the kidney body shot, followed by a left right combination to his head sent Lopez to the canvas, down and out at 1:03 of round four.
Willie Nelson KO1 Quinton Whitaker, Welterweights
Time: 2:22 of round one
Willie Nelson, Cleveland, Ohio, 16-0-1, 10 knockouts
Quinton Whitaker, San Antonio, Texas, 7-9, 5 knockouts
A right hand to head, left to body, right hand to head dropped Whitaker once. Two left hooks to the body dropped Whitaker again. A flurry of punches sent Whitaker down and out for the third time at 2:22 of the first, prompting an immediate end to the contest.
Nelson 16-0-1 (10) while Whitaker drops to 7-9 (5).
