By Scott Gilfoid: On June 27th, the World Boxing Council president Jose Sulaiman and his team will be meeting in Mexico City, Mexico to make a decision about whether to let the injured WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (51-2-2, 28 KO’s) hold onto his middleweight title or install him as the Emeritus champion so that other contenders can fight for his title while he heals from a broken left hand from his 12 round unanimous decision win over Martin Murray last April on the 27th.
Martinez also injured his previously operated on knee while falling down in that fight. The accumulated injuries could take Martinez up until the end of the year before he’s ready to defend his WBC title again. It looks like the WBC may choose to take his title away from him and put him in the position where he’ll have to come back at a later date and fight for the title after whichever set of fighters fight over his title.
It’s possible the WBC won’t take Martinez’s title away, but it’s likely they will. The bad part about this is it could make Martinez have to wait a while before he gets a shot at his own title, and that’s bad. It might be better for Martinez to just forget about the WBC title if they put him as the Emeritus strap holder because Martinez has an opportunity to fight WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin if he wants that fight.
He can also wait for a rematch with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in 2014 if he wants that fight. Chavez Jr. would like to face Martinez again to try and avenge his defeat and if Martinez’s brittle body can’t hold up under 12 rounds of wear and tear in a rematch then I can see Chavez Jr. beating him this time.
I wouldn’t mind seeing Martinez face someone like IBF/WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch. I could see Martinez beating him even with a bad hand and knee.
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