Martinez-Williams: Clear cut candidate for ‘Fight of the Year!’

By Boxing News - 12/06/2009 - Comments

martinez323Photo credit: Naoki Fukuda – By Sam Gregory: In the main event at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on December 5th Paul Williams and Sergio Martinez fought a 12 round non-title bout in the middleweight division that will surely be a candidate for “fight of the year”. This fight was non-stop action from the opening bell in round one until the final bell in round 12. Both of these great warriors gave a brilliant performance this night!

At the opening bell Williams came out the aggressor going to work throwing his jab. Martinez was right in this fight going toe to toe matching Williams punch for punch. Martinez gets caught off balance and is floored by Williams. It looked to be Martinez’ round all the way to that point. Before the round ends Williams gets caught with a shot that sends him to the canvas.

After a clinch in round 2 Williams was hanging on to Martinez who threw a three punch combination and landed a solid right hook to Williams’ head; Martinez is throwing and landing punches with blinding speed!

In round three Williams is pursuing Martinez around the ring, Paul lands a solid jab but Martinez counters with another three punch combination.

By the fourth round its clear to see Martinez’ big weapon is his right hook.

In round 5 savage punches were exchanged by both men, it was center of the ring toe to toe action. This around also marked the turning point for Williams, he seemed more confident in this round and the number of punches landed starting getting closer to the number of punches thrown.

In round 6 Williams still seemed to leave himself open for Martinez’ right hook which Martinez landed pretty much at will. Williams was much busier in this round and he started closing the gap.

By the start of round 7 the fight appeared to be dead even; three rounds a piece. Williams is starting to make Martinez miss with his punches; right before the round ended Martinez landed a solid right hook.

In round 8 both men trade in the center of the ring, Williams has blood dripping from his face; Martinez lands three solid left hooks, Martinez lands another left to the body and right hook to the head rocked Williams head back; big right hook is Martinez’ best shot.

In round 9 Martinez lands a big right hook to the body; both men trade body shots, big right hook by Martinez lands before the end of the round.

In round 10 Martinez lands two big left hands; Williams is leaving himself open to the left hand and Martinez is taking advantage of it landing with several hard big left hands.

In round 11 both men trade punches; Martinez is landing the cleaner more solid punches; Martinez is landing brutal right left combinations and finishes with a big right hand to win the round; 67 power shots landed in this round for both men.

Round 12 Martinez is landing the more solid flashy punches; this round was as dramatic as the first. This was clearly a fight of the year candidate!

After the 12th and final round the fight goes to the judge’s scorecards; Julie Lederman scores the fight 114-114 even. Judge Lynn Carter scores the fight 113-115 and Judge Pierre Benoist scores the fight 110-119 all for the winner by majority decision Paul Williams.

Williams improves his record to 38-1 with 27 KO’s; Sergio Martinez falls to 44-2-2 with 24 KO’s.

This was a very close fight and could have gone either way by a round or 2 but scoring the fight 110-119 which means that Martinez only won one round is a travesty! Pierre Benoist should have his license to score fights revoked!

This fight was certainly a candidate for “Fight of the Year!”



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