Sergio Martinez landed a devastating left hook early in the second round Saturday night, knocking out feared puncher Paul Williams and retaining his middleweight title in emphatic fashion at Boardwalk Hall.
Williams was looking to land his own hook and instead walked right into the punch, which landed flush on the chin and sent the challenger face-down onto the canvas. Martinez immediately ran across the ring to celebrate while doctors rushed into the ring to tend to Williams.
It took several minutes before he finally got to his feet.The fight was a rematch of one of last year's exceptional bouts, when Martinez and Williams traded knockdowns in the first round before trading blows for 11 more. Williams ultimately won the fight in a close and somewhat controversial majority decision, and Martinez had been saying all along that he planned to make sure this one didn't end up in the judges' hands.
He sure accomplished that.
While the fight was considered by many fans to be a legitimate candidate for Fight of the Year, the man nicknamed "Maravilla" instead may have delivered the knockout of the year.
The only real drama in this one came before the fighters made their way to the ring, when Martinez promoter Lou DiBella was furious that his guy as the champion was forced to work out of the blue corner. That side of the ring had not delivered a winner all night.
Despite their first fight becoming an instant classic, the rematch took plenty of time and patience to put together. Martinez upped the ante by claiming the middleweight title from Kelly Pavlik, while Williams held out hope of landing a big payday at welterweight against the likes of Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather Jr. or Shane Mosley.
When it become apparent that those fights would never happen, promoter Dan Goossen agreed to the rematch with Martinez, getting his fighter back in the spotlight on an HBO telecast.
No wonder he was reluctant to make the rematch.
While neither Martinez nor Williams is fond of the other, there was more acrimony than usual in the lead-up to this one because Williams insisted on a catch weight of 158 pounds — two under the middleweight limit — since he'd been training to fight at 147 pounds. Martinez countered by saying he'd be "ashamed" to ask for a catch weight if he was challenging for a world title.
The two pounds sure didn't seem to make much difference.
Martinez looked faster and smoother than Williams, and landed several crisp punches in the opening round, including a flurry on the ropes that gave him the round. Then he came out the next round and almost seemed to bait Williams into throwing a punch wide.
When it came, Martinez was ready, and the end happened without the referee bothering to count.
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Source: abcnews.go.com
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