By Dan Ambrose: WBC Diamond middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (49-2-2, 28 KO’s) is being protected by armed security around the clock with 24 hour security to guard him from someone who made death threats against him last weekend, according to Dan Rafael. Besides the death threats, a vehicle outside of Martinez’s home was vandalized over the weekend.

Martinez is trying to get ready for his September 15th fight against WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in a fight that will take place at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada and will be televised by HBO pay per view for $49.99. It’s unclear if the death threats came from one person or a group of people who have issues with him.

There’s a lot riding on the Chavez Jr-Martinez fight. If Chavez Jr loses it’ll affirm in the minds of many people that he was never more than just a hype job build up with careful matchmaking by his promoter Bob Arum. It’s clear that Chavez Jr. is more than a hype, but he’ll still be seen as hype if Martinez destroys him. This is Chavez Jr’s first really big fight of his career. His other important fights against Andy Lee, Sebastian Zbik, Peter Manfredo Jr, John Duddy and Marco Antonio Rubio, were matches with Chavez Jr. fighting guys with serious flaws in their game. Martinez is level above those guys, as are Gennady Golovkin, Dimitry Pirog and Felix Sturm. Arum hasn’t matched Chavez Jr. against any of those fighters for some reason, and perhaps it’s smart that he didn’t.

Some boxing fans feel that Chavez Jr. is winning on size alone over his smaller competition, as he’s got this rare ability to drain down from much higher weights to fight at middleweight. It’s difficult for fighters to do this without being weakened significantly, but Chavez Jr. is able to do this without losing power. It has to give him an advantage fighting against smaller guys, but it’s unknown how much longer his body will allow him to do this without it turning on him finally.