Why is HBO so bias against Sergio Martinez ?

[Taeth]

Why are you guys running so vigourously to Martinez's defense? He didn't look great against a guy who isn't that good. Macklin is okay, but he hit Martinez, and caused him far more problems than he should have. Sure Martinez was winning, but he was suppose to be winning. His promoter has the audacity to compare him to a prime Roy JOnes Jr, well if you are going to that he should be completely overwhelming this guy from the first round, which he didn't do. I just don't see him as anything but a puncher's chance threat against any of the other top guys around him like Mayweather, Pacquiao, Ward.

[UnbiasedFan]

HBO was so biased it was a joke. Do you think it could get any worse then that? It sure will... They will dog on Floyd like you wouldn't believe.

[ruthless rocco]

Why are you guys running so vigourously to Martinez's defense? He didn't look great against a guy who isn't that good. Macklin is okay, but he hit Martinez, and caused him far more problems than he should have. Sure Martinez was winning, but he was suppose to be winning. His promoter has the audacity to compare him to a prime Roy JOnes Jr, well if you are going to that he should be completely overwhelming this guy from the first round, which he didn't do. I just don't see him as anything but a puncher's chance threat against any of the other top guys around him like Mayweather, Pacquiao, Ward.

agreed!

[UnbiasedFan]

They were coaching it from the jump....

[Leighton]

I didn't watch HBO but kept hearing about their card. The fight was only close because of the KD and Martinez clearly dominated down the stretch. It wasn't that close in the end. The British crew had it about right IMO.

I can agree with this, Martinez landed the cleaner more effective punches throughout the fight. Game effort by Macklin, but Sergio showed who the boss was in the final 4 rounds.

Your spot on in my opinion.

[Rantcatrat]

With regard to HBO, if you are at the top, and not named Pacquiao or Chavez Jr., they give you a hard time. It's just the way the cookie crumbles. Larry Merchant asked the same type of questions to Mayweather, but he doesn't do it with Chavez Jr. or Pacquiao.

My problem with Sergio Martinez is that he gives himself too small a margin of error. It's a pattern in his fights that he ends them late: Pavlik (UD), Macklin (Round 11), Barker (Round 12), Dzinziruk (round . The reason it may take him a while to open up is because at 160, he is forced to fight a safer fight than he would at 154. Indeed, he was able to get Dzinziruk out earlier than the rest because Dzinziruk is a natural junior middleweight too. I understand that he is a counter puncher and it takes him a little while to figure his opponents' patterns out. However, he's going to run into someone that turns it on at the end of fights like he does.

Even at 37, he is a junior middleweight at heart. This is the third fight in row that he weighed in at 157, and allegedly this is while eating a healthy amount during the week of the fight.

The criticism on Sergio Martinez is somewhat unfounded for the following reasons. First, he doesn't just get the W, he knocks out his opponents; real knockouts, not like when Floyd Mayweather knocked out Victor Ortiz. What more should be expected of him? Vitali Klischko, age 40, usually only knocks out his opponents at the end of fights too, if he does at all. Bernard Hopkins, age 47, never knocks out his opponents. Second, his fights are fun to watch with the exception of the Barker fight. Saturday's fight had ebbs and flows with the challenger looking great at times. Sergio made adjustments and eventually won. Same with the Pavlik fight, where he was the underdog, the Dzinziruk fight, and the Williams' fights. Third, he's exemplary outside of the ring. He's taken a strong stance against domestic violence against women. He maintains a high level of fitness all year round. It's odd that HBO has taken to him more.

Where does he go from here?

The junior middleweights? Sergio Martinez would dominate Miguel Cotto, James Kirkland, or Saul Alvarez. Not that they would fight him, of course. Miguel Cotto already ducked him. Saul Alvarez is fighting Shane Mosley next and is too young for Sergio to be fair. James Kirkland would be fun, but Golden Boy won't put him in with Sergio. However, all those fights would be fun to watch. He would struggle against Mayweather, and it wouldn't be fun to watch. It would be fun to watch, of course for boxing afficianados, but the feinting and counter punching wouldn't make it action-packed.

The middleweights? Chavez Jr. would be a good fight. Chavez Jr. would have a huge size advantage and Chavez Jr. doesn't lose form at the end of fights. Geale would be a good fight too. Same goes for Andy Lee or Felix Sturm, but Sturm has stated publicly he doesn't want to fight Sergio Martinez. I actually like Chavez Jr and Sturm (if he it could happen) as his next opponents. Lee's not a bad opponent either. I'm not mentioning Pirog because he's completely MIA, rarely fights. Golovkin hasn't even fought on HBO yet if I'm not mistaken, so it's not realistic.

Where should he be ranked P4P?

In my estimation, Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao are unquestionably above Sergio Martinez p4p. After them, there's a noticable drop off, and it's tough to figure out the next four spots. Donaire struggled somewhat against Vasquez Jr., an opponent comparable to Macklin in quality, but Donaire couldn't do what Sergio did, and finish Vasquez Jr. off. My intrigue with Donaire somewhat leveled off after that last opponent. That Donaire is now taking a step backward in competition, after all the big talk of facing the best at 122 and even 126, after that last performance only solidified that view. Ward beat Froch and Kessler. He hasn't moved up in weight class though and he hasn't beat the next best in his division (Bute), not the be all and end all, but it affects his placement. Juan Manuel Marquez is a clear future hall of famer. Yet, he struggled against Juan Diaz and Michael Kastidis, and lost to Mayweather and Pacquiao. Wladmir has done everything asked of him too as has Vitali, but the quality of their opposition hasn't been anything to write home about.

[ono]

Because he's p4p top 3 or 4 and has failed to look anywhere near that class in about 17/18 of the 22 rounds he's shared with Macklin and Barker.....who are both good, but probably aren't really ever going to win an alphabet title.

[Manos de Piedra]

With regard to HBO, if you are at the top, and not named Pacquiao or Chavez Jr., they give you a hard time. It's just the way the cookie crumbles. Larry Merchant asked the same type of questions to Mayweather, but he doesn't do it with Chavez Jr. or Pacquiao.

My problem with Sergio Martinez is that he gives himself too small a margin of error. It's a pattern in his fights that he ends them late: Pavlik (UD), Macklin (Round 11), Barker (Round 12), Dzinziruk (round . The reason it may take him a while to open up is because at 160, he is forced to fight a safer fight than he would at 154. Indeed, he was able to get Dzinziruk out earlier than the rest because Dzinziruk is a natural junior middleweight too. I understand that he is a counter puncher and it takes him a little while to figure his opponents' patterns out. However, he's going to run into someone that turns it on at the end of fights like he does.

Even at 37, he is a junior middleweight at heart. This is the third fight in row that he weighed in at 157, and allegedly this is while eating a healthy amount during the week of the fight.

The criticism on Sergio Martinez is somewhat unfounded for the following reasons. First, he doesn't just get the W, he knocks out his opponents; real knockouts, not like when Floyd Mayweather knocked out Victor Ortiz. What more should be expected of him? Vitali Klischko, age 40, usually only knocks out his opponents at the end of fights too, if he does at all. Bernard Hopkins, age 47, never knocks out his opponents. Second, his fights are fun to watch with the exception of the Barker fight. Saturday's fight had ebbs and flows with the challenger looking great at times. Sergio made adjustments and eventually won. Same with the Pavlik fight, where he was the underdog, the Dzinziruk fight, and the Williams' fights. Third, he's exemplary outside of the ring. He's taken a strong stance against domestic violence against women. He maintains a high level of fitness all year round. It's odd that HBO has taken to him more.

Where does he go from here?

The junior middleweights? Sergio Martinez would dominate Miguel Cotto, James Kirkland, or Saul Alvarez. Not that they would fight him, of course. Miguel Cotto already ducked him. Saul Alvarez is fighting Shane Mosley next and is too young for Sergio to be fair. James Kirkland would be fun, but Golden Boy won't put him in with Sergio. However, all those fights would be fun to watch. He would struggle against Mayweather, and it wouldn't be fun to watch. It would be fun to watch, of course for boxing afficianados, but the feinting and counter punching wouldn't make it action-packed.

The middleweights? Chavez Jr. would be a good fight. Chavez Jr. would have a huge size advantage and Chavez Jr. doesn't lose form at the end of fights. Geale would be a good fight too. Same goes for Andy Lee or Felix Sturm, but Sturm has stated publicly he doesn't want to fight Sergio Martinez. I actually like Chavez Jr and Sturm (if he it could happen) as his next opponents. Lee's not a bad opponent either. I'm not mentioning Pirog because he's completely MIA, rarely fights. Golovkin hasn't even fought on HBO yet if I'm not mistaken, so it's not realistic.

Where should he be ranked P4P?

In my estimation, Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao are unquestionably above Sergio Martinez p4p. After them, there's a noticable drop off, and it's tough to figure out the next four spots. Donaire struggled somewhat against Vasquez Jr., an opponent comparable to Macklin in quality, but Donaire couldn't do what Sergio did, and finish Vasquez Jr. off. My intrigue with Donaire somewhat leveled off after that last opponent. That Donaire is now taking a step backward in competition, after all the big talk of facing the best at 122 and even 126, after that last performance only solidified that view. Ward beat Froch and Kessler. He hasn't moved up in weight class though and he hasn't beat the next best in his division (Bute), not the be all and end all, but it affects his placement. Juan Manuel Marquez is a clear future hall of famer. Yet, he struggled against Juan Diaz and Michael Kastidis, and lost to Mayweather and Pacquiao. Wladmir has done everything asked of him too as has Vitali, but the quality of their opposition hasn't been anything to write home about.

Agree with that. Great post.

[J_Undisputed]

Both Barker and Macklin unfortunately stack up bad stylistically for Martinez if you're looking for domination or a flashy show. They're both guys that are naturally heavier and try to stay busy to neutralize Sergios speed. Macklin perhaps having an edge with Mcgirt in his corner if you want to push the roy jones similarities. The plan for both guys unfortunately was to remain tight defensively and get Martinez to lead and blitz him when he comes in. Its hard to pick your shots against fighters that do that with some extra weight on you and both of them being rather durable. Sergio is at his best against fighters that lead, present counterpunching opportunities and are not balls to the wall blind flurry type of brawlers. In a division where the pickings may be slim, you have to give it to a guy that picked someone who got jobbed out of title in a different country and gave them a shot. He's also not doing what so many other champions do, pick they guys that are too old (a mosely), too young/green (ortiz), blown up (marquez) or weight drained (cotto) or stylistically flawed (hatton/Margarito) to make themselves pretty. He gives away the weight advantage, many times the height/reach advantage, the constant hometown advantage.. and still finds a way to win. He usually rewards the fans for a few rounds of stinkery with a ko.. who else can you say that about? He doesn't whine or cry all the way to the limo (where he can count his cut of the gate) about how the commentators talk about him.. . He goes in .. does his job, says thank you... and gets involved in causes outside the ring.. despite idiots like merchant that wants everyone to abandon defense and every other skill they practice for the last 2-3 months in favor of swinging big and giving him a rocky moment to babble his 90 proof garbage about while at the mic. Considering he's been jobbed enough times, that anyone else would have thrown a tantrum and quit...I would have to say he deserves more credit for what he's accomplished.

[Abelardus]

I watched the fight Sunday morning and to me Sergio didn't look that great until macklin got tired. He was losing the fight in my eyes up to the 7th or 8th round were he turned all around. But I felt he didn't look as great as he should have. I feel if he would throw right hooks he couldve been knocking the guy out. But it seems like he only depends on his left straight and stepping back and throwing a soft jab to counter your missed jab. He got the win but I feel if macklin would've had better stamina and stuck to the plan and keeping his right hand centered like he was threw out the fight it would've gone to the cards and split decision win for Martinez.

[Dia bando]

Here is a fact Martinez would not be fit to carry Haglers spit bucket.

[:::PSL:::]

That wasn't the first time Martinez looked ordinary against nobody. I can't blame hbo.

[ElTerribleMorales]

That wasn't the first time Martinez looked ordinary against nobody. I can't blame hbo.

yet they acted like Pacquiao was blowing his opponent away against Clottey, where Manny looked far from extraordinary

[Gandalf]

That wasn't the first time Martinez looked ordinary against nobody. I can't blame hbo.

yet they acted like Pacquiao was blowing his opponent away against Clottey, where Manny looked far from extraordinary

It was a shut out, Martinez hasn't been shutting out anyone.

Not that I think it even matters, a convincing win is a convincing win.

[ElTerribleMorales]

That wasn't the first time Martinez looked ordinary against nobody. I can't blame hbo.

yet they acted like Pacquiao was blowing his opponent away against Clottey, where Manny looked far from extraordinary

It was a shut out, Martinez hasn't been shutting out anyone.

Not that I think it even matters, a convincing win is a convincing win.

yea he's been stopping everyone, once he figure his guy out he stops him, so I fail to see why he gets so much criticism, we all knew Macklin was a lot better than a 10-1 underdog, it's more of a case that Macklin performed well rather than Martinez looked flat