ATLANTIC CITY -- Sergio Martinez sat on the stage answering questions from reporters during the post-fight press conference -- managing a smile following perhaps the most brutal fight of his professional boxing career.
The Argentinian-born, 34-year-old southpaw had endured a battle with fellow left-hander, Paul Williams, during which he got up from a first-round knockdown to floor his rival just before the bell ending the same round of their middleweight (160 pounds) non-title matchup at the Adrian Phillips Ballroom of Boardwalk Hall.
Peaking out from beneath the dark shades worn by Martinez were dark purplish, bruises on both cheeks -- the result of 12 rounds of non-stop action.
Martinez endured the many thudding right jabs, right crosses and powerful left hands delivered by his nearly, 6-foot-3 opponent, who is widely consider to be one of the sport's best, pound-for-pound.
But as the saying goes: You should see the other guy.
"Paul had some bad cuts right over his eyelids on both sides," promoter, Dan Goossen said of Williams, who was hospitalized immediately after the fight. "We wanted to get attention on it immediately. We contacted a plastic surgeon to stitch him up."
For even though Williams was declared the majority decision winner, improving his record to 38-1, with 27 knockouts, he was the one with the more severe damage.
"This was a war, plain and simple," said Martinez's promoter, Lou DiBella. "And even though Sergio lost, it's like he really won."
In defeat, Martinez slipped to 44-2-2, ending a nearly nine-year-long, winning streak of 28-0-1 since being knocked out by Antonio Margarito in 2000.
And in the eyes of Goossen, at least, he erased the memory of that lone setback.
"We certainly knew that that loss to Margarito meant nothing, somewhat similar to Paul Williams, when he lost to Carlos Quintana and he came back from that" to knock out Quintana in the first round, said Goossen.
"We knew that Sergio had done the same thing. He's been avoided for the last few years because he's a great fighter," said Goossen. "So we knew that we had to throw that damn Margarito fight out because it was so many years ago, and he would knock out Margarito today."
Knocked down by Williams at 1:57 of the first round, Martinez bounced back to drop Williams with only a few seconds left, setting the tone for the rest of the bout's ebb-and-flow.
"To fight a great fighter like Paul Williams, it makes you great, and it makes you bigger -- especially when nobody wants to fight him. I believe that I accomplished a lot tonight," said Martinez, who displayed the heart, chin, and the overall resiliency that could earn him enough respect to escape the relative obsurity that has plagued his career.
"I believe that I landed the hardest punches in the whole fight. But maybe it was a little bit of luck that he didn't get knocked out tonight. I didn't get the KO that I promised, but the victory was very close," said Martinez.
"I know that I had him, but he kept coming, and he has quick hands, which helped him," said Martinez. "He's a skillful fighter -- a very strong fighter. But there were punches that I threw that were very powerful, and that's why he went to the hospital."
Julie Lederman scored it 114-114, while Williams was given the advantage by both Lynn Carter, and, Pierre Benoist, at 115-113, and an inexplicable, 119-110, respectively. Amazingly, Benoist gave Martinez only one round.
"I came out to win the fight. How I did it is how I did it. And now, it's up to you, the press, to review the tapes and tell the truth about who won," said Martinez. "I just know that I'm down to fight anybody that I have to to get to the top. I hope that my next fight should be all about the money."
Martinez holds the WBC's junior middleweight (154 pounds) crown, which was not on the line since he fought Williams at 160.
"Martinez is an unconventional fighter with tremendous athletic ability. You saw him tonight against a beast, and what he did was almost beat the beast. We'll take anybody at 154, and any champion at 160," said DiBella.
"Martinez has had the hardest time of anybody who is this good getting showcases," said DiBella. "But I believe -- and HBO led me to believe -- that he will get a date, fairly quickly, based upon this performance. I think that he'd prefer to fight his next fight at 154."
Although a rematch with Williams would earn Martinez a lucrative payday, DiBella will likely pursue a 154-pound, unification bout perhaps with champions such as Cory Spinks, Yuri Foreman, or, Sergiy Dzinziruk, of the IBF, WBA, and, WBO, respectively.
DiBella said that he would also like to go after WBO and WBC middleweight titlist, Kelly Pavlik.
"Maybe he'll [Pavlik] pick my guy, but I've got to tell you something -- I think Martinez would run circles around him and knock him out. Martinez has got a great chin, speed that is unmatched by almost anybody in the two weight classes that he fights in," said DiBella.
"He's smart, he's good-looking and he's the whole package. And what he did tonight was to show that he was capable of fighting one of the best fighters in the world," said DiBella. "He went to war with him and walked out of a fight that could have gone either way. What he showed tonight is that he's a top-10, pound-for-pound fighter."
Source: boxing.fanhouse.com
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