By Chris Williams: Former WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (47-2-2, 26 KO’s) is looking past his next scheduled fight on October 1st against unbeaten middleweight contender Darren Barker (23-0, 14 KO’s) at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Martinez, 36, wants to fight Manny Pacquiao next and is even willing to melt down to 150 pounds in order to make that fight happen. The excuse before from Pacquiao was that Martinez was too heavy for the fight to happen, but with Martinez ready to melt off valuable muscle and water weight to get down to a 150 pound catchweight, Pacquiao is going to have to come up with another excuse.

I think Martinez is really wasting his sweet time and breath chasing Pacquiao, because I don’t see the Filipino star facing Martinez even if he melted down to 142. I think he’s considered too dangerous for Pacquiao because Martinez can punch, has speed and is an excellent mover. Martinez is like a bigger, more powerful version of Juan Manuel Marquez.

We already saw Pacquiao get handled pretty well by Marquez twice before and it doesn’t matter that Pacquiao is a little bigger now, because Martinez would have the size advantage to create a nightmarish fight for Pacquiao. I think Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum and trainer Freddie Roach can already see this plain as day, because neither of them are eager to put Pacquiao in with Martinez to fight, even though it would make big money for Pacquiao if he did.

Just imagine, it would a fight against someone that is actually the best fighter in the division, and not a faded guy or someone that recently got the stuffing beaten out of them like a number of Pacquiao’s opponents have had in the last three years. But I don’t think Martinez is going to get a fight against Pacquiao in this lifetime unless he suddenly starts losing his skills, and then I can see it happening very quickly.

Martinez needs to focus on trying to get ready for Barker instead of talking about Pacquiao. This could be a very hard fight for him unless he takes it very seriously and comes into the fight in tip top shape ready to throw leather.