Martinez, Sergio Gabriel

Martinez’s sports career began with professional cycling and football.

He started boxing at age 20. In 1997, won the title of champion of Argentina.

He took part in the 1997 World Boxing Championship. I won in the first round, Jani Rukhalu, and in the second qualifying match I lost to the Romanian boxer, Adrian Diacon .

He made his debut in December 1997 in welterweight. At first, he held low-ranking fights with little-known boxers, mainly in Argentina.

February 19, 2000 lost by knockout to the more experienced Mexican boxer, Antonio Margarito . The fight was very difficult for both, but from the fourth round Margarito imposed his pace, and in the 7th round the referee stopped the fight and fixed the victory by TKO to the Mexican.

In 2001, won the Argentina welterweight title.

February 2, 2002 defeated experienced boxer, Francisco Antonio Mora (34-3)

On June 21, 2003, Martinez defeated Briton Richard Williams and won the IBO world middleweight title.

In October 2003 he defended the IBO title by knockout in a fight with former champion in this version, Briton Adrian Stone (33-4-2).

In 2005, he knocked out boxer from Russia Albert Arepityan (18-1). In the 11th round, Sergio sent Arepityan to canvas three times. After this fight, Martinez spent 5 fights with low-ranking boxers.

In 2007, he knocked out Mexican Saul Roman (27-2) with heavy blows to the body.

Battle with Alex Bunema

In October 2008, Martinez entered the ring against Congolese Alex Bunema . Martinez dominated the whole battle: a significant part of his attacks reached the goal. The Congolese could not do anything in response. In the interval between the 8th and 9th rounds, the doctor examined Bunema and advised him to stop the fight. The Argentine defeated by TKO.

Battle with Kermit Sintron

In February 2009, Martinez entered the ring against the famous Puerto Rican and former world welterweight champion Kermit Cintron . Cintron tried to impose an exchange of blows on the enemy during the whole battle, while Martinez tried to keep his distance. In round 5, Cintron earned a cut, which was announced as a result of a head-on collision. At the end of the 7th round, Martinez managed to send Sintron to the floor with his left straight, and the referee made the go-ahead to end the meeting. However, Cintron began to protest strongly, indicating that the head was allegedly hit, although in reality this was not so. As a result, the referee continued the meeting, noting that Cintron was able to rise to the “nine” score. In the future, Martinez somewhat lost the initiative, and in the 12th round he was fined for a blow to the back of the head, which at the end of the battle cost him victory. As a result of the 12-round meeting, by a majority of the judges, the result of the duel was a draw: 116-110 in Martinez’s favor and 113-113 twice.

The Battle of Paul Williams I

Martinez rose to middle weight and met with star American Paul Williams , replacing Kelly Pavlik , who was injured in preparation for the fight. Both opponents were knocked down in the 1st round, while the fall of Martinez was more like a "flash", and Williams was greatly shocked. Using the confusion of his opponent, Martinez looked good in the 2nd and 3rd rounds, but starting from the 4th three-minute period, Williams took the initiative in his own hands and leveled the meeting. The ending of the battle took place in a sharp and competitive struggle. According to the results of 12 rounds of equal confrontation, the judges by a disputed majority decision gave the victory to Williams. One of the judges put in the favor of Williams the score 119-110, which did not quite correspond to what was happening in the ring.

Fight Kelly Pavlik

In April 2010, Martinez met with WBC and WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik . Martinez's success was brought about by high-quality actions number two: Pavlik, from the first round boxing with a cut over his right eye, which increased more and more and prevented him during the fight, unsuccessfully pursued his opponent on the heels, but mostly ran into single and multi-hit attacks by Sergio . In the 7th round, Pavlik managed to send the Argentine to a light knockdown, but he was not shocked, and the fight continued with the same pattern. As a result, the 12-round confrontation ended with a judicial verdict in favor of Martinez: 115-112, 115-111 and 116-111. Martinez became the new world middleweight champion in two versions.

The fight with Paul Williams II

In November 2010, a rematch took place between Sergio Martinez and Paul Williams . At stake was Martinez’s WBC middleweight title. A good and intense 1st round hinted at a long battle, but already in the 2nd three-minute Martinez struck a powerful left-handed blow to Williams's head, and he was in a deep knockout. This knockout received the title "Knockout of the Year" according to the magazine Ring ^[1] .

Fight with Sergey Dzinziruk

In March 2011, Martinez entered the ring against the WBO title holder in the 1st middleweight title, Ukrainian Sergey Dzinziruk . At stake was the vacant WBC diamond middleweight title. The positional battle began with the confrontation of the jabs. Sergei was more careful, but Martinez was much more diverse and more active with other blows. The “tightness” of Dzinziruk and his stingy actions in the attack led to the fact that almost all the rounds were written down by the Argentinean. In the 4th round, Sergey counted out a flash knockdown, at the end of the 5th - a completely serious knockdown. Dzinziruk recovered quite well in the 6th, tearing it out due to his cool work on counterattacks, and in the 7th he even “slightly” cut Martinez over his left eye. For one minute in the 8th round, Sergio sent Dzinziruk three times to the floor with punches on the left. After the third knockdown, the referee stopped the fight without starting the countdown ^[2] .

Fight with Darren Barker

In October 2011, Martinez met with Briton Darren Barker . The first half of the fight was an equal fight, but starting from 7-8 rounds, Martinez began to seize the initiative and eventually knocked out Barker in the 11th three-minute period, having spent two not very accurate but strong right side outs to the head.

Fight Matthew Macklin

In March 2012, Martinez met with another Briton Matthew Macklin . The first half of the battle took place in an equal fight, Martinez was active only as necessary. To a large extent, he spurred Sergio's knockdown in the 7th round, which he went to after a precise lateral Macklin, complemented by a stumble of the Argentinean himself. By increasing the number of shots thrown, Martinez seized the advantage after what happened, and at the end of the 11th round his efforts were embodied in two knockdowns of Matthew, who went to the floor after the Argentinean left. To top it all off, the Briton got a dissection, and the corner did not release him for the final three-minute period ^[3] .

Fight with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.

In September 2012, Martinez met with the world champion, Mexican Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. At stake was the WBC middleweight title, which Martinez was stripped of in early 2011 . The Argentine gamer easily boxed the squeezed and too inert champion in the first 5 rounds, at the expense of speed and constant mobility, throwing him with jabs and single hooks and crosses to the left from all angles of attack. Only in the 6th round, Chavez, who had already begun to bleed his nose, snapped several intelligently several times, making this round for Martinez not as one-sided as the previous ones. In the 7th three-minute period, Sergio, who had hardly invested in punches before, except for those intended for the liver area, tried to “push” and end the fight ahead of schedule, but Chavez again showed excellent ability to hold a strong blow. Despite a slight dissection above the left eye and a pause taken, the 8th and 9th rounds also went into the standings of the applicant. The newly activated Martinez declassed Chavez in the 10th round, risking a couple of times even chopped off with an opponent that was superior in size. The aggressive Sergio, flaunting invulnerability and endurance, in the 11th round missed several champion flops on the right, but in return he returned several times more. In the middle of the final round, a flimsy Martinez missed some of the strongest punches, was knocked down, but still managed to reach the gong, despite a powerful series of desperately trying to finish off his opponent Chavez. The score on the referee cards is 117-110 and twice 118-109 in favor of Martinez, who regained the champion’s belt, which he lost not in the ring, but as a result of the decision of the World Boxing Council.

Battle with Martin Murray

April 27 in Argentina, Sergio Martinez entered the ring with an unbeaten British boxer, Martin Murray . Martinez won on points with a slight advantage, but in the 8th round, Murray was able to send the Argentine to the canvas of the ring ^[4] .

Fight with Miguel Cotto

On June 7, 2014 in New York at the Madison Square Garden arena, a large ppv show took place, featuring Sergio Martinez and former world champion in three weight categories, Puerto Rican, Miguel Cotto . The fight exceeded all expectations, and already in the first round Cotto knocked the champion three times. These blows broke Martinez and he never managed to recover well. Until the ninth round, Cotto beat Martinez, but the Argentinian held on. In the ninth round, the exhausted Martinez managed to reach the gong, but did not reach the 10th round. Cotto won by refusing to continue the fight, and again entered the list of the best boxers, regardless of weight category. The fight was held in the intermediate weight category of 159 pounds (70.3 kg), but Martinez's titles were at stake. Cotto became the new world middleweight champion in the WBC and The Ring versions.

• List of world boxing champions in several weight categories

• Martinez, Sergio Gabriel (Eng.) - professional boxing statistics for BoxRec