Sergio Martinez still hoping to fight the Chavez-Zbik winner

By Boxing News - 05/30/2011 - Comments

Image: Sergio Martinez still hoping to fight the Chavez-Zbik winnerBy Dan Ambrose: Former WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (47-2-2, 26 KO’s) already has an open date on October 1st waiting for the winner of this Saturday’s fight on June 4th between WBC middleweight champion Sebastian Zbik (30-0, 10 KO’s) and unbeaten number 1 World Boxing Council middleweight challenger Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (42-0-1, 30 KO’s) at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.

Martinez, 36, sees Zbik coming out on top in that match-up, but he’s really hoping that Chavez Jr. wins it. Martinez should be hoping that Zbik wins, because his chances of fighting him would figure to be much, much better than ever getting a shot at Chavez Jr. Martinez might be kidding himself if he thinks that Chavez Jr. will fight him next. Chavez Jr. might talk about it, but his promoter Bob Arum has other ideas for him, namely a fight against one of his most popular fighters in his Top Rank stable WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto.

Chavez Jr. will likely get put in with Cotto in September if Antonio Margarito isn’t healed up enough to make that date with Cotto first. Chavez Jr. is the backup plan for Cotto if Margarito can’t make it. But even if Margarito does come through and take the fight with Cotto, it’s doubtful that Arum would be willing to put Chavez Jr. in with a puncher like Martinez and see Chavez Jr’s perfect record erased by a single left hand from Martinez. Chavez Jr. would have very little chance of beating Martinez or even being remotely competitive with him.

I can’t see Arum taking this fight in a million years, even if Chavez Jr. was the WBC champion and Martinez was the mandatory challenger. I see Chavez Jr. never facing Martinez. What we’ll likely see instead is if Cotto isn’t available, Arum would put Chavez Jr. in a sure-win situation by either matching him against one of the bottom feeders in the middleweight division or have one of his stable fighters like Joshua Clottey move up a couple of divisions to take the fight with Chavez Jr. and give both fighters a chance for a payday. But I don’t see Martinez and Chavez Jr. fighting in this lifetime. Maybe in 10 years or so when Martinez is in his mid 40s, lost his punch and is badly over the hill, then maybe.



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