Cruiserweight contender Ola “Kryptonite” Afolabi (13-1-3, 5 KOs) is hosting a party on March 14, the day he faces former champion Enzo Maccarinelli for the Interim WBO Cruiserweight Championship at the M.E.N. Arena, in Manchester.
Sergio Martinez
Sergio Martinez
Cintron-Martinez, Campbell-Funeka, Marquez-Diaz, John-Juarez – News
Rodney Berman’s Golden Gloves and Arthur Pelullo’s Banner Promotions will present a sensational world championship fight card on Saturday, March 21, 2009, at Emperors Palace, located at 64 Jones Street in Kempton Park, South Africa. Featured fights will be televised live on Supersport beginning at 8:00 P.M. local time (2000).
News: Campbell-Funeka, Angulo-Mayorga, Cintron-Martinez
Unified lightweight world champion Nate “Galaxxy Warrior” Campbell (32-5-1, 25 KOs) gave a stern warning to International Boxing Federation No. 1-Ranked lightweight mandatory challenger Ali “Rush Hour” Funeka (30-1, 25 KOs) at a Don King-hosted press conference at BankAtlantic Center today promoting their Valentine’s Day meeting in South Florida.
News: Vitali: Wlad will fight Haye in 2009; Martinez-Cintron On Feb 14th
Reigning WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko is confident that a fight between his brother Wladimir and British heavyweight contender David Haye will happen in the next 12 months.
Kermit Cintron Moving up to 154 To Fight Sergio Martinez
By Manuel Perez: Kermit Cintron (30-2, 27 KOs) will take on Sergio Martinez (44-1-1, 24 KOs) for the interim WBC light middleweight title on February 14th. The date was left open for Cintron after Joe Greene was unable to make the fight with Martinez due to kidney stones. Next, Daniel Santos stepped in but he needed more time to train, wanting to fight in March rather than February.
Santos vs. Martinez on February 14th – Did Greene Luck Out By Getting Kidney Stones?
By Jim Dower: With Joe Greene (20-0, 14 KOs) suddenly developing a case of kidney stones and unable to meet interim WBC light middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (44-1-1, 24 KOs) on February 14th, it paves the way for WBA light middleweight champion Daniel Santos (32-3-1, 23 KOs) to step in and fight Martinez instead. As it turns out, it may be a stroke of luck for the highly ranked 22-year-old Greene, who might have taken a severe beating if he had continued on and fought Martinez. Greene, ranked #5 in the World Boxing Organization and #15 in the WBC, has fought mostly limited competition in his four-year pro career.
Berto-Collazo, Martinez-Greene & Pianeta-Duhaupas – Boxing News
DiBella Entertainment is starting 2009 in style with two great world championship matchups, featuring hard-charging WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto making his second title defense versus number-one rated challenger and former WBA world champion Luis Collazo, and budding 154 pound superstar Sergio Martinez taking on undefeated, world-rated contender Joe Greene, for the interim WBC belt, to be seen on HBO’s Boxing After Dark, on Saturday, January 17, from the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino in Biloxi, MS.
Greene vs. Sergio Martinez on January 17th
By Jim Dower: Undefeated light middleweight prospect Joe Greene (20-0, 14 KOs) will face his toughest task on January 17th in a scheduled 12-round bout for the interim World Boxing Council (WBC) light middleweight title in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Greene, 22, a former 2004 National Golden Gloves Middleweight Champion, is making a huge step up in competition to take on Martinez, 33, the interim WBC light middleweight champion.
Martinez Outclasses Bunema – Latest Boxing News
By Manuel Perez: Light middleweight power puncher Alex Bunema (30-6-2, 16 KOs) finally round out of luck on Saturday night, when he was way out of his league in terms of boxing skills and ended up being stopped at the end of the 8th round by Spaniard Sergio Martinez (44-1-1, 24 KOs) at the Pechanga Resort & Casino, in Temecula, California. Martinez, 33, in winning the fight, captured the interim WBC light middleweight title which was on the line on Saturday night. Bunema, also 33, and perhaps the hardest overall puncher in the light middleweight division, didn’t have the speed or the work rate to catch up to the elusive Martinez, and hence was unable to land anything of note in the fight.
Bunema was knocked down in the 3rd round by a left hook from Martinez, although he wasn’t hurt in that case. However, in the 7th round, Bunema was hurt, after getting hit with a flurry of hard punches from Martinez at midpoint of the round. On the verge of being knocked out, Bunema instinctively grabbed a hold of Martinez to prevent him from hitting him anymore. However, as soon as the two fighters were separated, Martinez continued hitting Bunema with a massive amount of punches until the end of the round. Even before hurting him in the round, though, Martinez had been tagging him repeatedly with hard jabs and left hands without one shot from Bunema coming back.
Martinez vs. Bunema On Saturday
By Manuel Perez: Light middleweight contenders Sergio Martinez (43-1-1, 23 KOs) and Alex Bunema (30-5-2, 16 KOs) meet up on Saturday night in a 12-round bout for the interim WBC light middleweight title at the Pechanga Resort & Casino, in Temecula, California. This is a classic fight between a boxer -Martinez – and a pure slugger (Alex). Martinez, 33, from Argentina, is ranked number #2 in the WBC, although he’s faced very limited competition during his long 11 year professional career. Most of his fights have occurred in Argentina, where he’s defeated largely unknown fighters. Other than Antonio Margarito, who stopped Martinez in the 7th round in February 2000, he’s faced mostly fluff fighters whom he’s built up his impressive record on.
In the past year, Martinez has finally started fighting in the U.S., defeating a series of C-level fighters in Archak TerMeliksetian, Russell Jordan, Saul Roman and David Toribio. Although Martinez has defeated all of them, his absence of quality fighters on his record makes it hard for me to see him as a legitimate contender for the WBC title.