Got the KO, But What Is Next For Sergio Martinez?

After witnessing the KO of the year from Sergio Martinez one would believe he is guaranteed to get a mega fight. Well maybe not so quick. After beating Kelly Pavlik and taking the Middleweight title, Martinez had a hard time getting another fight. After Pavlik turned down the option for an immediate rematch, many names were tossed around but HBO only wanted to see Martinez fight a rematch with Paul Williams. Williams and his camp seemed very slow to sign on for the rematch with Martinez. After HBO basically said you two fight a rematch or don’t fight again this year the deal got done. So the rematch took place this past weekend on HBO. After what many considered to be one of the best fights of 2009, many were expecting that type of fight again in the rematch. However Martinez, who felt like the decision last year was taken from him, decided to become his own judge when he landed a clean vicious left hook to the face of Paul Williams. The once self-proclaimed most avoided fighter went down face first with his eyes open but no movement. It was at that time Sergio Martinez proved he was a true boxing star and a force to be reckoned with. But who or what is next for Sergio Martinez?

The options for Sergio Martinez are not as plentiful as he would like. The first two names that come up whenever a huge fight is mentioned are Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao. Both would have to move up in weight to fight Martinez who would be the naturally bigger and stronger man. Mayweather could claim a title in his 6th division if he won and Pacquiao could claim a title in his 9th division if he won. The history is there for both fighters if they won, but is the risk of fighting Martinez too great for both men? Martinez is not going to be the easy picking made to order fighter both fighters have been accustomed to fighting in recent years. Martinez is not slow and against moving his head in order to not get hit like Ricky Hatton and Antonio Margarito. Martinez is in good condition and wouldn’t be fighting in a weight division he doesn’t belong in like Juan Manuel Marquez and Oscar De La Hoya. Martinez is not weight drained and full of ring rust like Miguel Cotto and Shane Mosley. Martinez is the legit middleweight champion and he does not plan on just laying down for the sake of saying he lost to either Mayweather or Pacquiao. He is not coming just to get a payday and moving on. Sergio Martinez wants to show he is the best fighter in the world and I’m not sure Mayweather or Pacquiao really wants to see him in the ring.

Martinez has even stated he would fight at super middleweight for the right deal; however most of the best of the division is tied up with the Super Six World Classic and Lucian Bute just signed a deal with HBO rival network Showtime. Felix Sturm and Sebastian Slyvester, two of the other middleweight titlists are not big draws in the United States and I doubt either would want to fight Martinez. Both are content holding their belts hostage in their country and making good money fighting mandatories and bums. The only middleweight titlist left is WBO middleweight titlist Dmitri Pirog, who KOd young prospect Danny Jacobs to claim the vacant title in July. Pirog essentially came out of nowhere and KOd Danny Jacobs sending a shock through the middleweight division. A fight between Martinez and Pirog would be an action pack fight but it still wouldn’t net Martinez the super payday he deserves. However, with a new year coming up and a fresh budget, HBO should be able to muster up a good payday for Sergio Martinez. It would be nice to see HBO give a Lou Dibella fighter, not named Berto, a great payday that he actually earned and deserves. Well the pressure is on HBO because Martinez has done everything asked of him and more. Martinez fought the rematch HBO begged for against the reluctant Paul Williams and scoring the KO of the year. Martinez supposedly took the shorter end of the money as well. Not to mention he was placed in the opponent’s corner during the fight and announced first which is total disrespect to the champion. Even through all of the disrespect Martinez remained humble and professional while getting the job done. Now he deserves to be treated like the champion he is. The only question that remains is what is next for Sergio Martinez?

Why Golden Boy Promotions Needs The Golden Boy Back In The Ring?

As the rumor and of course the denial of Oscar De La Hoya coming out of retirement has arisen in the last few days many ask is it a good move. For the future of Golden Boy, Oscar De La Hoya needs to fight soon. De La Hoya was and still remains the biggest pay per view attraction in our time. Even though he lost most of the major fights he had on PPV, he still managed to draw huge PPV ratings. However, for Golden Boy he was their biggest star with no one in their roster to replace even half of the revenue he could generate.

The biggest stars on Golden Boy; Shane Mosley, Bernard Hopkins, and Juan Manuel Marquez are each future hall of famers but not PPV stars. People will point out they did over a million PPV buys for Floyd Mayweather Jr.- Shane Mosley, but most of the money went to Mayweather. Mayweather was the attraction, not Mosley as was shown in the horrible PPV numbers for his fight with Sergio Mora. Also Mosley is trying to land a fight with Manny Pacquiao and is stating he is a free agent. Bernard Hopkins had a huge disappointing fight as well as even more disappointing PPV buys for his way over the hill fight against Roy Jones Jr. Hopkins has never been a big PPV draw and with his style of boxing, he will never become a demand on PPV. Marquez had a million PPV buy fight last year, but again that was against Floyd Mayweather Jr. who is not signed to Golden Boy. Marquez’s PPV fight with Juan Diaz put up lackluster numbers and was highly overlooked. The rest of the stars on Golden Boy are either not PPV main event worthy or don’t pull in big ratings. The number one attraction is Floyd Mayweather Jr. and he just uses Golden Boy to set up his fights since Mayweather Promotions is not a legalized promotional company. Golden Boy rival Top Rank has Manny Pacquiao, Miguel Cotto, Antonio Margarito, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and may soon be using Shane Mosley against some of their fighters. These fighters have all been used interchangeably with other fighters in the Top Rank roster to put up high PPV numbers for the budget. So who does Golden Boy have lying around who could blow life back into their PPV revenue easily…the owner himself Oscar De La Hoya.

De La Hoya was boxing’s biggest attraction win or lose before he retired in April 2009. For all of the De La Hoya haters, he had plenty of fans and made a lot of money for a lot of different fighters. If you fought De La Hoya you became more marketable especially if you beat him. The fights De La Hoya had with Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao single handedly turned them both into PPV attractions that drew over one million PPV buys. The charm and charisma De La Hoya had always drew in the fans. After his horrible loss to Pacquiao, you know the competitive spirit of De La Hoya is not sleeping well with that loss. His company has no huge attraction on the roster and he is still able to at least give a decent fight. He is the best chance under the Golden Boy banner to meet or exceed the PPV numbers of Manny Pacquiao. The curiosity of boxing fans everywhere would tune in to see what the Golden Boy has left especially with all of the publicity and promotion his fight would get.

The proposed comeback fight for De La Hoya is against recently fallen of grace fighter Ricky Hatton. Hatton, who has had issues with drugs and infidelity come to the public eye in recent months, would be a huge attraction to fight against. Hatton’s England following is a force to be reckon with as they sing and chant for Hatton through his entire fight. They travel by the thousands to the U.S. for Hatton’s fights and love their champ to the end. If De La Hoya and Hatton could meet at Wemberly Stadium in England, the fight could draw 100,000 fans and be a huge PPV attraction in both England and the U.S. The fact that Golden Boy is also Hatton’s U.S. promoter, Golden Boy promotions will cash in like a casino during fight week in Vegas. If both fighters look competitive, they will milk themselves into another PPV attraction in the future. Remember money talks and when the name Oscar De La Hoya comes up in a fight you better believe the money will be screaming. I can hear it loud and clear, can you?

Time to Take a Stand!

As I am watching Manny Pacquiao destroy Antonio Margarito I keep thinking, this is not the fight I really want to see. Yes I paid for it and I am watching it, but I don’t care to see this. The fight I would rather see is Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao. I am by far not the only one who felt this way on Saturday night. Yes Pacquiao was beating up a bigger man, but I saw that beatdown coming from light years away. Most of us have followed the recent career of Pacquiao and his rise up the weight division kicking ass and taking names later, but the one fight we all crave for just can’t seem to happen. But why hasn’t it happened? It has not happened because of a blood test, yes a blood test. Sounds silly doesn’t it? Oh but why is that the reason?

Well Mayweather has strong belief in his heart that Pacquiao is taking something illegal in the sport of boxing in order to move up in weight so fast and not lose any effects. To some it sounds like jealousy, but to many others it sounds like a legit concern. Mayweather has requested that Pacquiao as well as anyone he fights in the future submit to Olympic style drug testing. Olympic style drug testing includes no predetermined amount of random blood and urine samples up till the day of the fight. It is not part of the standard state commissions’ tests which include pre and post fight urine samples. It is a request of Floyd Mayweather Jr. Earlier this year Shane Mosley agreed to the test before his fight with Mayweather and there were no complaints. However Pacquiao has refused. We have heard the excuses from the Pacquiao camp, Manny is scared of needles. Manny does not like to see his blood drawn and he feels the loss of blood will make him weak. The only thing weak in these excuses are the excuses themselves. Manny has multiple tattoos and as far as him feeling the loss of blood will make him weak, I’ve seen him bleed a lot in his fights and he still wins. Despite what certain people say, Pacquiao and his camp have yet to agree to random tests all the way up to the fight.

Now let’s look at this from another perspective. This past weekend the Pacquiao camp suspected Margarito of taking an illegal substance in the locker room before the fight. The demand the Pacquiao camp immediately made at that moment was a pre-fight drug test. Now many will say they had reason to suspect Margarito and they didn’t want Pacquiao to be endangered in the fight. I agree, but Mayweather feels the same way in regards to Pacquiao. Mayweather and Pacquiao are considered to be the two best boxers in the world and therefore they are looked upon as leaders. As a leader you are called upon to begin new trends and set examples for the good of all who follow after you. Pacquiao himself should understand that concept since he is a Congressman in the Philippines and hopes to be the President. Leaders make sacrifices to set precedents in the future for others who follow in their footsteps. Leaders do what is right. Sports, boxing included, has issues with athletes using illegal substances in order to gain a competitive edge and honestly it will never end. However, it is the job of the commission to stay on top of the drug testing in order to prevent those things from happening. Unfortunately they can’t get it right every time and to many fans and fighters they are failing us. So it is up to the fighters to take a stand and say lets help the sport we love by going the extra mile.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. has begun to take a stand to try and clean up the sport.People will say he is using it to duck Pacquiao and you know what that could be true. However, look at the positives from what he is doing which is putting fighters on notice that we need to step up to the plate and do our part. Mayweather is not saying others take the test and he will not. He is asking his opponents to take the tests as well as himself. Despite all the negative press he has received for many things, his stance on this matter is the quality of a leader. I’m not accusing Pacquiao or anyone else of using anything illegal, but I am saying we need our leaders in the sport to take a stand. If you are clean you should not have any issues taking random drug tests. So to Manny Pacquiao, eight division world champion, take a stand and agree to the random drug testing so I and others can be blessed with the biggest fight of our time, Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao.