By Jim Dower: WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (46-2-2, 25 KO’s) has found stardom late in his career at the age of 35. In a career that’s spanned 13 years and titles in two different weight classes, Martinez finally has found fame with his wins over Kelly Pavlik and Paul Williams this year.

Martinez defeated Pavlik by a 12 round decision in April, in a fight that many boxing fans felt that Pavlik would win. And then to show that his win over Pavlik wasn’t a fluke thing, Martinez turned around and defeated Williams by a 2nd round knockout last Saturday night.

Martinez didn’t want to take any chances at getting beaten by another controversial 12 round decision like the one he lost to Williams in December of last year. Martinez said before last Saturday’s fight that he was going to take the judges out of the fight by stopping Williams this time, and sure enough that’s exactly what he did.

However, just as Martinez is finding popularity among boxing fans world wide, he’s announced that he’ll be fighting three, possibly four more times and then retiring from the sport. Martinez wants to get some major paydays and then get out of the sport while he’s still young enough to enjoy life.

But unfortunately there’s not a lot of big named opponents for Martinez to fight. Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. likely won’t fight him, and the other middleweights are lacking in star power. Martinez best options at this weight are bouts against Pavlik, Dmitriy Pirog, Felix Sturm and Sebastian Sylvester.

None of those fighters are big stars. Martinez could go after a rematch with Antonio Margarito, who beat Martinez earlier in his career. That would be a great fight. Also, fights against Miguel Cotto, Saul Alvarez and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. are interesting options.