Sergio Martinez

Fan-favorite Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez, residing now in Oxnard, California has come a long way in boxing and in life since his humble beginnings in Quilmes, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Last year he won honors from the Boxing Writer’s Association of America as the fighter of the year (an award that many thought Manny Pacquiao would win), and knockout of the year by nailing Paul Williams to the canvas in devastating fashion in the second round of their rematch last November.

Martinez, 36, was introduced to boxing at the age of 20 by his uncle, Ruben, and had 41 amateur fights before turning pro.

At the age of 25, a doctor told him he would no longer be able to fight as a boxer because of the middle knuckle on his left hand that he had broken. He proved the doctor wrong and continued to box for four years with a broken hand. Martinez has since stated that he continued fighting because he was very poor and wanted to continue making a living as a boxer.
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MIDDLETOWN — A boxing champion is reaching out to a bullied Middletown teen, inviting her to join him as his guest at an upcoming fight.

Monique McClain, a seventh-grader at Woodrow Wilson Middle School, will join middleweight boxer Sergio Martinez at Foxwoods Casino on Thursday, meeting the fighter and then being his special guest at the weigh-in.

McClain left school in January after months of harassment from other students. Her mother, Alycia, and grandmother, Alexa, say the school system hasn’t done enough to protect her.

McClain’s boxing coach, Johnny Callas, set up the event and said he and McClain are excited for the opportunity. A social worker, Callas coaches boxing to Monique and two dozen other Middletown children in the Champions of Life program at the Lion’s Den. The program teaches at-risk Middletown youth about life skills and personal development, as well as boxing.

“I was thrilled that I could pull this off as a coach,” Callas said.
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Middleweight champion Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez (46-2-2, 25 KOs) of Oxnard, CA, by way of Quilmes, Argentina arrived in Connecticut, having departed after his final day of training camp at the World Crown Sports Training Center in Port Hueneme, CA on Sunday, for his showdown with undefeated junior middleweight champion Sergiy Dzinziruk (37-0, 23 KOs) of Ukraine which takes place this Saturday, March 12th at the MGM Grand Arena at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut for the vacant WBC Diamond middleweight title which will be shown live on HBO’s ‘World Championship Boxing’.

“None of my fights or opponents have been easy and I know this fight won’t be an easy fight,” said middleweight champion Sergio Martinez. “I know Dzinziruk is coming to fight but I have no doubt in my mind I will win this Saturday and win impressively and that’s by knockout. Like I’ve said before I want to be recognized as the best pound for pound fighter this year and in order to do that I have to put on a great performance which is what I plan to do,” continued Martinez.

Accompanying Martinez is long time trainer and 2010’s ‘Trainer of the Year’ Gabriel Sarmiento as well as stable mates welterweight Abraham Lopez (1-1) of Oxnard, CA and unbeaten Dominican super featherweight Javier “El Abejon” Fortuna (13-0, 10 KOs) who will be featured on the undercard, in separate bouts.

Photos and report by Ricardo Conde at fightnews.com

By Dan Rafael
ESPN.com
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Middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik and junior middleweight titlist Sergio Martinez have agreed to terms for April 17 bout, the promoters for both fighters told ESPN.com on Tuesday.

The contracts are not signed, but both sides said that was a formality.

“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.”

They’ll meet at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J., where Pavlik is a major draw — his fans have regularly traveled there by the thousand from Youngstown, Ohio.

Martinez, a native of Argentina living in Spain, made his own fans at Boardwalk Hall in December, when he thrilled the crowd at the Hall’s smaller Adrian Phillips Ballroom by duking it out with middleweight contender Paul Williams in a thrilling majority decision loss that took no luster away from Martinez.

“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.

The bout will headline a major “World Championship Boxing” split-site doubleheader on HBO. Super middleweight titlist Lucian Bute of Montreal will defend his 168-pound belt against Edison Miranda of Colombia at the Bell Centre in Montreal before the action shifts to Atlantic City for Pavlik’s 160-pound title defense against Martinez.

Should Pavlik and Bute both win, it could lead to a potential Bute-Pavlik fight. Arum said there have been preliminary discussions about the bout between Top Rank and InterBox, Bute’s promoter, and it’s a fight that HBO has major interest in.

But first things first. Pavlik is in a serious fight, and his team knows it.

“It’s a terrific fight and I think Kelly is going to win, but we know this is a very tough fight,” Arum said. “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.”

Pavlik (36-1, 32 KOs), 27, will be making his fourth defense since scoring a dramatic seventh-round knockout against Jermain Taylor at Boardwalk Hall to win the title in September 2007. Pavlik has also fought a pair of nontitle bouts, outpointing Taylor in a super middleweight rematch and losing a lopsided decision at 170 pounds to Bernard Hopkins.

Pavlik is coming off a fifth-round knockout of overmatched Miguel Espino on Dec. 19, which followed a 10-month layoff. During that time, Pavlik was twice scheduled to defend against Williams, but each time the fight was called off because a problem Pavlik had with his hand stemming from a staph infection.

The second time the fight was called off, Williams instead faced Martinez (44-2-2, 24 KOs), who has yet to defend his 154-pound crown, on short notice in one of the most action-packed bouts of 2009.

The only open issue in the deal, according to DiBella, has nothing to do with the agreement between the promoters or fighters.

“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.”