Sergio Gabriel Martínez - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Sergio Gabriel Martínez (born 21 February 1975 in Avellaneda

Avellaneda

Avellaneda is a port city in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the seat of the Avellaneda Partido, whose population was 328,980 as per the ....

, Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires Province

The Province of Buenos Aires is the largest and most populous province of Argentina. It takes the name from the city of Buenos Aires, which used to be the provincial capital until it was federalized in 1880...

, Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

) is an Argentine professional boxer

Boxing

Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

and the current The Ring

The Ring (magazine)

The Ring is an American boxing magazine that was first published in 1922 as a boxing and wrestling magazine. As the sporting legitimacy of professional wrestling came more into question, The Ring shifted to becoming exclusively a boxing oriented publication...

middleweight

Middleweight

Middleweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have begun in the 1840s. In the bare-knuckle era, the first middleweight championship fight was between Tom Chandler and Dooney Harris in 1897...

champion.

He is the former undefeated WBC

World Boxing Council

The World Boxing Council was initially established by 11 countries: the United States, Argentina, United Kingdom, France, Mexico, Philippines, Panama, Chile, Peru, Venezuela and Brazil plus Puerto Rico, met in Mexico City on February 14, 1963, upon invitation of the then President of Mexico, Adolfo...

& WBO

World Boxing Organization

The World Boxing Organization is a sanctioning organization currently recognizing professional boxing world champions. The organization is recognized as one of the four major world championship groups by the IBHOF alongside the International Boxing Federation, the World Boxing Council and the...

middleweight

Middleweight

champion and recipient of the WBC Diamond

World Boxing Council

belt.

Martinez was previously in the light middleweight

Light middleweight

Light Middleweight , is a weight division in professional boxing, above 147 pounds and up to 154 pounds ....

division, where he held the WBC Latino

World Boxing Council

and Interim WBC

World Boxing Council

light middleweight titles. Also, he has competed in the welterweight

Welterweight

Welterweight is a weight class division in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like kickboxing, taekwondo and mixed martial arts also began to use it for their own weight division system...

division, where he held the WBO Latino

World Boxing Organization

title.

Martínez is currently rated as the number three pound for pound

Pound for pound

Pound for pound is a term to describe how any two things compare when bearing in mind their varying quantities; for example, a tin of tomatoes weighing 250 g and costing $2.50 is more expensive, pound for pound, than one weighing 500 g and costing $4 .It is used in combat sports such as boxing or...

best boxer in the world by most sporting news and boxing websites, including The Ring, Sports Illustrated

Sports Illustrated

Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...

, ESPN

ESPN

Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

, and Yahoo! Sports

Yahoo! Sports

Yahoo! Sports was launched on December 8, 1997. It receives a majority of its information from STATS, Inc., employs various writers, and has team pages for teams in almost every North American sport...

. In 2010, Martínez received The Ring and BWAA

Edward J. Neil Trophy

The "Sugar Ray Robinson Award" is given to the Boxing Writers Association of America's Fighter of the Year. The BWAA first presented the trophy in 1938...

"Fighter of the Year" and The Ring "Knockout of the Year"

Ring Magazine knockouts of the year

Ring Magazine was established in 1922. Since 1989, it has named a knockout as Knockout of the Year based on the magazine's writers' criteria. Here is a list of Ring Magazines knockouts of the year:-1990s:...

awards respectively.

Early life

Sergio Martinez was born on February 21, 1975 in Avellaneda

Avellaneda

Avellaneda is a port city in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the seat of the Avellaneda Partido, whose population was 328,980 as per the ....

to parents Hugo Alberto Martinez and Susana Griselda. Shortly afterwards the family relocated to the nearby city of Quilmes, which is also in the Buenos Aires Province

Buenos Aires Province

. His father worked as a construction worker and metal worker, a trade which Sergio Martinez joined along with his two brothers, Sebastian and Hugo Jr.. Before boxing Martinez was a keen cyclist and football player, and it was not until 1995 that he decided he would become a boxer. After being trained by his uncle, Ruben Paniagua, Martinez began boxing as an amateur and compiled a record of 39-2 (39 wins to 2 losses), the losses came by way of majority decision and knock-out. His boxing career suffered a major setback in August 1996 when he broke his left hand, forcing him out of the sport for a year. Although he considered competing for Argentina at the 2000 Olympics, he decided that he was too old to wait the two and a half years and chose to turn professional in December 1997.

Early years in Argentina

Martínez, at the age of 22, had his first professional fight on December 27, 1997 in Ituzaingo

Ituzaingó, Buenos Aires

Ituzaingó is the capital of the Ituzaingó Partido in the Gran Buenos Aires metropolitan area, Argentina near Buenos Aires city.Ituzaingó has been the capital of the Ituzaingó Partido or municipality of Buenos Aires Province since 1995, when the partido was created...

, Buenos Aires, Argentina. The opponent for his professional debut, Cristian Marcelo Vivas, was disqualified in the second round, giving Martínez his first win. Martínez fought the first 17 fights of his career in his native Argentina, compiling a record of 16-0-1. The only blemish on his record at this point occurred in his third fight, a draw against Mario Javier Nieva over four rounds. Martinez rematched Nieva four months later and won a six-round unanimous decision.

After facing a relatively low level of opposition for his first 17 fights in Argentina, Martínez fought overseas for the first time, travelling to the United States to face Antonio Margarito

Antonio Margarito

Antonio Margarito Montiel is a Mexican professional boxer. He is a former WBA, WBO, & IBF welterweight champion...

. The fight took place on February 19, 2000 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...

. The contest started badly for Martínez as Margarito scored a knockdown in the first round. Although Martínez recovered and had some success in the early rounds, he was hurt by a number of punches in round seven leading to a stoppage by the referee, thus handing Martínez his first loss. Following the Margarito fight, Martinez returned to Argentina and fought eight times, all victories, from April 2000 – February 2002. During this run of fights he won the Argentina welterweight title after outpointing Javier Alejandro Blanco, he successfully defended the title once, knocking out Sergio Ernesto Acuna in the seventh round, before being stripped of the title.

Relocation to Spain

After his final fight in Argentina, a February 2002 win over Francisco Mora, Martinez decided to relocate to Spain. It was there that he began his partnership with his current trainer Gabriel Sarmiento who worked out of a gym in Azuqueca de Henares

Azuqueca de Henares

Azuqueca de Henares is a municipality located in the province of Guadalajara, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. According to the 2008 census , the municipality has a population of 30,794 inhabitants.-History of Azuqueca:...

. During his time in Spain Martinez also worked jobs such as; nightclub bouncer, dishwasher, construction worker and did modelling jobs for Adidas and Nike. From April 2002 – May 2003 he fought four times in Spain, all eight-round fights that he won against weak opposition, two of his opponents had lost their last six fights. This was to change in his next fight however, as he took on Richard Williams in England for the lightly regarded IBO light-middleweight title. Martinez, who entered the ring as an underdog, having had only eight days preparation, won a unanimous decision. Although Williams scored knock-downs in the second and eleventh rounds, he was close to being stopped in the final round and the scorecards were heavily in Martinez's favour. He defended the IBO title twice in the United Kingdom; a twelfth round knock-out victory of Adrian Stone in Bristol was followed by a rematch against Williams in Belfast, on this occasion Williams was stopped in the ninth round. Over the next two and a half years, Martinez won seven fights in a row back in Spain, six of which were against boxers who had losing records.

Light Middleweight

Martínez claimed the interim WBC Light Middleweight title on October 4, 2008, beating Alex Bunema via an eighth round retirement. On February 14, 2009 Martinez fought to a majority draw against Puerto Rican

Puerto Rican people

A Puerto Rican is a person who was born in Puerto Rico.Puerto Ricans born and raised in the continental United States are also sometimes referred to as Puerto Ricans, although they were not born in Puerto Rico...

Kermit Cintron

Kermit Cintrón is a Puerto Rican boxer who is from Carolina, Puerto Rico. Cintrón is trained by Ronnie Shields and managed by Josh Dubin. He is promoted by Top Rank.-Early and personal life:...

. The fight was controversial for a number of reasons; during the seventh round Martínez knocked Cintron down with a clean left hand shot, the referee reached the count of ten and waved the fight off. However, this was disputed by Cintron, who claimed that the knockdown was a result of a headbutt. Cintron's protestations led to the referee overturning his decision and the fight continued. The fight went the twelve round distance and the scorecards revealed a draw, many ringside observers felt that the decision was a robbery and that Martínez easily outboxed Cintron and should have gained the victory.

On May 21, 2009, WBC Light Middleweight champion Vernon Forrest

Vernon Forrest

Vernon Forrest, nicknamed "The Viper", was an American professional boxer who became a world champion in the welterweight and light middleweight divisions and noted for his two victories over Shane Mosley and upset losses to Ricardo Mayorga.- Early years and amateur career :Forrest began boxing at...

was stripped of his title due to a rib injury that would leave him out of action indefinitely. Because of the injury and his inability to fight Sergio Martínez, Martínez's interim title was upgraded to full WBC Title status.

Middleweight

On December 5, 2009 Martínez fought Paul Williams

Paul Williams (boxer)

Paul Williams is an American boxer and is the former two-time WBO welterweight champion.With a height of six-feet-one inch, Paul is considered extremely tall for the three divisions he campaigns in: Welterweight, Jr...

in a non-title Middleweight bout at Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall

Boardwalk Hall

Boardwalk Hall, formally known as the Historic Atlantic City Convention Hall, is an arena in Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States...

. Both boxers traded knockdowns in an opening round of a contest that was described as a fight of the year candidate. The next two rounds were heavily in Martínez's favor as he hit Williams with barrages of counter punches. Rounds 4-7 showed Williams coming back effectively landing hard lefts to the head of Martínez. In rounds 8-11 Martínez again confused Williams by using different varieties of punches including straight lead lefts to the body followed by right hooks to the head and straight lefts to the face. The 12th and final round showed much fatigue in Martínez and Williams but the fighters fought through to the end. Williams won a close majority decision over Martínez with the judges scoring: Pierre Benoist 119-110 for Williams, Lynn Carter 115-113 for Williams and Julie Lederman 114-114. Afterward both fighters expressed interest in a possible rematch.
After an impressive performance against Paul Williams, Sergio Martínez stayed at Middleweight and challenged the World Champion Kelly Pavlik

Kelly Pavlik

Kelly Pavlik is an American professional boxer. He was The Ring, WBC, & WBO middleweight champion from when he beat Jermain Taylor on September 29, 2007 until he lost his titles to Sergio Martinez on April 17, 2010....

. The fight took place in Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall on April 17, 2010. Martínez defeated Pavlik via unanimous decision in a bout which saw Martínez overcome an early knockdown to subsequently dominate the late rounds. Pavlik had cuts above both eyes for several rounds which did not stop bleeding; he said they affected his vision and performance. Although there was a rematch clause in the contract, Pavlik chose not to enforce it, stating his desire to move up in weight.

The victory over Pavlik earned Martínez the Middleweight Championship of the WBC

World Boxing Council

, The Ring

The Ring (magazine)

and the
WBO

World Boxing Organization

.
With Martínez winning the Middleweight championship, he was required to make some decisions regarding his conflicting WBC Super Welterweight (Light Middleweight) title. The sanctioning organizations for boxing recognize that boxers may choose to move up or down in the weight categories, yet they also wish to make all championship belts available to challenge. As such, their rules prohibit a fighter from simultaneously holding belts in multiple divisions. This prohibition includes holding a title with one sanctioning organization while also holding a title in a different weight class with a different organization. Eight weeks after the Pavlik fight, when Martínez failed to announce a preference to be a Super Welterweight or a Middleweight champion (the WBO rules allow ten days to decide), the WBO stripped him of their Middleweight title. A week later, Martínez did inform the WBC that he was willing to vacate their Super Welterweight title and maintain his WBC Middleweight belt.

The Rematch

On November 20, 2010, Sergio got a chance to avenge his loss to Williams. Martínez was ranked fourth pound for pound, while Willams was No. 3. Many speculated that this would be a fight of the year candidate. Approximately one minute into the second round, Martínez knocked Williams out with an over-the-top left hand to retain his title. The knockout was called by many as the knockout of the year.
Williams stated to Max Kellerman after the fight, "He caught me with a punch I did not see."
Martínez vs Dzindziruk

Sergio Martínez fought previously undefeated Sergiy Dzindziruk

Sergiy Dzindziruk

Sergiy "Razor" Dzinziruk is a Ukrainian professional boxer in the junior middleweight division. He is the current WBO Super Welterweight Champion.- Amateur :...

on March 12, 2011 at the Foxwoods Resort Casino, Mashantucket, winning by TKO in 8 rounds. Dzindziruk, the WBO light middlweight champion, was knocked down five times in the fight.

Martínez vs Barker

Martínez fought undefeated EBU

European Boxing Union

The European Boxing Union is an organization that oversees competition in that sport over the continent of Europe.-History:The EBU started life as the International Boxing Union in Paris in 1910...

Darren Barker on October 1st at the Boardwalk Hall

Boardwalk Hall

Boardwalk Hall, formally known as the Historic Atlantic City Convention Hall, is an arena in Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States...

in Atlantic City.

Many boxing analysts and experts said that Darren Barker has the skills and ring generalship to one day become a champion, but that his skills were not perfected enough to do anything against Martinez. The first few rounds showed that Barker was actually able to make Martinez uncomfortable in the ring and give him more trouble than expected. Throughout the fight Barker consistently gave Martienz problems, while never hurting him or really ever winning any of the rounds he gave Martinez a challenge by coming in but not giving much offence to let Martinez counter or land anything clean. He also managed to get Martinez's nose to bleed early in the rounds by an upper cut. Martinez however fought through the difficulty and eventually found openings which led to knocking him out in the 11th round by a right hook.

Fighting style

A southpaw, Martinez is known as a fast and athletic fighter and his style has been described as "crowd-pleasing" and, because of his tendency to fight with his hands down when he is out of range of his opponent, "arrogant". One of Martinez's best weapons is his right hook

Hook (boxing)

A hook is a punch in boxing. It is performed by turning the core muscles and back, thereby swinging the arm, which is bent at an angle near or at 90 degrees, in a horizontal arc into the opponent...

, which he says he developed when he injured his left hand during his amateur career.

Professional boxing record

|-
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="8"|48 Wins (27 knockouts), 2 Losses, 2 Draws
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Darren Barker

Darren Barker is an English middleweight boxer. He is a former holder of the British and European middleweight titles and a former holder of the Commonwealth title...

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Sergiy Dzinziruk

Sergiy Dzindziruk

Sergiy "Razor" Dzinziruk is a Ukrainian professional boxer in the junior middleweight division. He is the current WBO Super Welterweight Champion.- Amateur :...

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Paul Williams

Paul Williams (boxer)

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Kelly Pavlik

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Paul Williams

Paul Williams (boxer)

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Kermit Cintron

Kermit Cintrón is a Puerto Rican boxer who is from Carolina, Puerto Rico. Cintrón is trained by Ronnie Shields and managed by Josh Dubin. He is promoted by Top Rank.-Early and personal life:...

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Alex Bunema
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Archak TerMeliksetian
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David Toribio
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Russell Jordan
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Pavel Florin Madalin
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Saúl Román

Saúl Román Martínez Castañeda is a Mexican professional boxer in the Light Middleweight division and is the former Mexican National Light Middleweight Champion.-Pro career:...

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Oliver Tchinda
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Vasile Surcica
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Presente Brito
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Tamaz Tskrialashvili
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Alvaro Moreno Gamboa
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Albert Airapetian
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Jorge Teixeira Pina
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Richard Williams

Richard Williams is a Canadian animator. He is best known for serving as animation director on Disney/Amblin's Who Framed Roger Rabbit and for his unfinished feature film The Thief and the Cobbler...

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Adrian Stone
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Richard Williams

Richard Williams is a Canadian animator. He is best known for serving as animation director on Disney/Amblin's Who Framed Roger Rabbit and for his unfinished feature film The Thief and the Cobbler...

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Frank Oppong

Frank Oppong is a Ghanaian Middleweight boxer from Accra, Ghana who now lives in La Coruna, Galicia, Spain.The Spanish people call him The Warrior of Africa.Oppong still fights in Spain with Antonia Postigo as his trainer....

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Miguel Angel Perez
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Vasile Surcica
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Alvaro Moreno Gamboa
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Francisco Antonio Mora
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Sergio Ernesto Acuna
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Javier Alejandro Blanco
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Enrique Areco
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Elbio Felipe Gonzlaez
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Adrian Walter Daneff
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Javier Alejandro Blanco
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Raul Eduardo Bejarano
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Antonio Margarito

Antonio Margarito Montiel is a Mexican professional boxer. He is a former WBA, WBO, & IBF welterweight champion...

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Paulo Alejandro Sanchez
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Silvio Walter Rojas
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Walter Fabian Saporiti
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Ariel Gabriel Chaves
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Paulo Alejandro Sanchez
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Silvio Walter Rojas
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Elio Vaca Anglarill
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Jose Antonio Perez
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Ignacio Ramon Caceres
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Arnaldo Gabriel Molina
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Gabriel Leonidas Leiva
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Luis Alberto Baldomir
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Juan Mauricio Marino
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Mario Javier Nieva
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Juan Mauricio Marino
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Julio Cesar Villalva
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External links

Vacated

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