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.

From 1997-1999, fighting in his homeland of Argentina, he composed a record of 16-0-1. In February 2000 he had his first defeat in his first fight outside Argentina, in the United States (Las Vegas), where he was TKO’d by Antonio Margarito in the seventh round of the bout.

In 2002, he moved his boxing career to Europe and resided in Spain. He fought in Europe until 2007—until he was signed by promoter Lou DiBella and promptly returned to the United States.
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I became a believer and fan of Martinez after seeing him fight to a draw against Kermit Cintron at a Don King show at The Bank Atlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida in February 2009.

Many on-hand thought Martinez had defeated Cintron convincingly by coming back in the match and taking the fight to Cintron.

Even so, after the fight was declared a draw, Martinez showed a lot of class and sportsmanship by accepting the decision, shrugging his shoulders as if to say, “Oh well.”

Meanwhile, Cintron did his usual crying, ranting and raving for an extended period of time.

Martinez won me and several thousand fans over that night and hasn’t stopped winning fans since, defeating both Kelly Pavlik and Paul Williams last year.

Martinez (46-2-1, 25 KOs), who wants to be recognized as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, will take on the very tough and undefeated Ukrainian Sergiy “Razor” Dzindziruk (37-0, 23 KO’s) at Foxwoods Resort Casino, in Mashantucket, Connecticut this Saturday night.

HBO will be televising the fight, starting at 10:30p.m. EST. The winner will be declared WBC Middleweight Champion by taking home the vacant WBC Diamond middleweight title.

Courtesy of www.bleacherreport.com

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