Sergio Martinez: I Want Mayweather, I'll Take The Tests

richierichballs

By Rick Reeno
Late Tuesday night, BoxingScene.com sat down with WBO/WBC middleweight Sergio Martinez and adviser Sampson Lewkowicz. The two men were celebrating in Puerto Rico because earlier that day Martinez was honored by the WBO and several of their champions for last month's decision win over Kelly Pavlik.
Pavlik and his team made it official on Monday, they were waiving their right to a rematch with Martinez. Pavlik will make an immediate move to the super middleweight division. Now Martinez is weighing his options. At the top of his list - is Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Following his win over Shane Mosley on May 1, Mayweather told media members that a move to middleweight to challenge Martinez was a possibility if a fight with Manny Pacquiao fell through.
Martinez told BoxingScene he would like to fight Mayweather, at any weight between 154 to 160-pounds, and he's willing to accept Mayweather's demand for a random Olympic-style drug testing protocol.
"I am willing to fight anyone who is acceptable to HBO. I will leave the opponent to my handlers Sampson and [promoter] Lou DiBella. But I want to fight Mayweather. It would be honor to fight Mayweather or [Antonio] Margarito. Mayweather is the first [on my list], then Margarito and then Paul Williams," Martinez said to BoxingScene.com.
"Mayweather is the pound for pound best fighter on earth and whatever Maywaether says, I will accept. It will be an honor to fight him regardless of the weight, but it has to be at 154 and up because I can't get below 154. I will not sacrifice my life for any amount of money. I don't mind doing any [drug] tests that he demands and I will do them with pleasure - up until the day of the fight."
Martinez sat ringside for last Saturday's fight between Paul Williams and Kermit Cintron at the Home Depot Center in California. In his opinion, Cintron was winning the fight and Williams seemed to be having an off-night. He doesn't know what was wrong with Williams.
"I thought Cintron was winning and Paul Williams was not the same Paul Williams that I fought. By that time [the fourth round] he already threw 200 extra punches [against me]. It was an off-night for Williams," Martinez said.

magma69

If the Pac fight doesn't happen, I would be incredibly surprised if Mayweather v Martinez went ahead. "Money" ain't called just that for no reason and the risk/reward ratio for that fight isn't very good. Cotto is a big draw and if he comes through the Foreman fight (which I expect him to), he would be a more likely opponent imo. Easier fight for Mayweather as he would go back to welter to fight him.

richierichballs

Defiantly be a tough fight for Mayweather, I had Martinez beating Williams to be honest,
Very exciting and flashy fighter, The result of this fight should it happen will be down to whatever weight he happens at,
At 154 I think Floyd may take it and I have my doubts,
But if he wants to go for another world title in a different division and this happens at 160, I see Martinez winning

magma69

richierichballs wrote: »

Defiantly be a tough fight for Mayweather, I had Martinez beating Williams to be honest,
Very exciting and flashy fighter, The result of this fight should it happen will be down to whatever weight he happens at,
At 154 I think Floyd may take it and I have my doubts,
But if he wants to go for another world title in a different division and this happens at 160, I see Martinez winning

I'll eat my hat if he goes up to 160 to take on Martinez.

walshb

I reckon if Floyd takes on Sergio he will add in yet more Floyd demands, maybe he'll make Sergio fight blind folded?;)

Spazdarn

magma69 wrote: »

If the Pac fight doesn't happen, I would be incredibly surprised if Mayweather v Martinez went ahead. "Money" ain't called just that for no reason and the risk/reward ratio for that fight isn't very good. Cotto is a big draw and if he comes through the Foreman fight (which I expect him to), he would be a more likely opponent imo. Easier fight for Mayweather as he would go back to welter to fight him.

Arum won't want one of his fighters schooled by Mayweather, he'll pass Cotto around his own current group of fighters first, making sure he'll still benefit from any wins/losses...

joepenguin

I could see Mayweather take on Martinez, but in a years time and for the 160lbs linear title. Obviously there is the issue of him working with top rank etc but if they are willing to do it for pacman then why not for an extra few bob while floyd is still lacing them up. This is if Martinez still holds the belts and gets some high profile wins like Margo, Cotto or Williams in the meantime. These are likely yo be at 154 with the exeption of williams so hopefully he is still active a s a middlweight and it would be a nice touch if he still has the belts.
Then Floyd to defend against John Duddy in a sold out Croke park 2011!!!! :cool:

Wild_Dogger

Not a hope of this fight happening in my opinion.
2 reasons to note :

Martinez at 154 would be a 50/50 fight for me . He's big at 154 and Mayweather isnt in to taking on big hitters unless he has to .

Secondly , nothing is getting in the way of a Pacman Mayweather fight ,.... Arum would be shooting himself in the foot .
Just imagine if Martinez KO'd Mayweather ? what would that do to the great masterplan !!!

Goldenboy fight Goldenboy... and TopRank fight TopRank.
thats the way its been between these 2 lately .

James Ford

Belts mean nothing to Floyd so he will probably not fight him at 160, but maybe 154. This would be a massive risk for Floyd, southpaws give him trouble and one as big as Martinez would be a big risk.

But if he were to beat him, it would be another major scalp, and a big boost to his legacy, which he has stated is his only concern at this stage in his career, apart from the dollars of course.

digme

Sergio Martinez deserves a fight of this magnitude, but It won't happen.

walshb

I don't see what is deserving here. Martinez is a middle and Floyd is coming to the end of his career as a welter. How does Martinez deserve this? To me, it shouldn't even be considered. And, Martinez won't get all that much credit should he get and win, after all, he is a bigger man than Floyd.

megadodge

walshb wrote: »

I don't see what is deserving here. Martinez is a middle and Floyd is coming to the end of his career as a welter. How does Martinez deserve this? To me, it shouldn't even be considered. And, Martinez won't get all that much credit should he get and win, after all, he is a bigger man than Floyd.

But Floyd will get credit for beating a smaller man in Pacquiao!

Big Ears

walshb wrote: »

I don't see what is deserving here. Martinez is a middle and Floyd is coming to the end of his career as a welter. How does Martinez deserve this? To me, it shouldn't even be considered. And, Martinez won't get all that much credit should he get and win, after all, he is a bigger man than Floyd.

Well to start with Martinez can still fight at Light-Middleweight(he is afterall a former Welterweight himself) and Floyd has shown he's willing to go that high in weight before in order to get the big fights. It would be a huge win for Floyd's legacy to have beaten the Middleweight champion of the World, and make the statement of 'I'm betting than Sugar Ray Leonard/Robinson' a lot easier to swallow as both of them came up from lower weight classes to be Middleweight champion.

Now the Pacquiao fight is of course the big one and most natural fight to make, but if it doesn't happen then I don't see why Mayweather vs Martinez can't.