Sometime around what would have been the two minute mark of the second stanza, trainer Gabriel Sarmiento placed a crown on Sergio Martinez’s head, not only anointing him undisputed king of the middleweight division, but also — for my money — Fighter of the Year.
With one jaw shattering left cross, Paul Williams collapsed poetically to the canvas; blood dribbled from his mouth, his eyes cluelessly fixated on the blue mat on which he lie.
The electrifying left hand — which will likely result in Martinez winning Knockout of the Year — arrived milliseconds before “The Punisher’s” own left cross. Martinez took advantage of his counterpart’s right hand resting at his side, exposing his face to danger — exposing his chin to the Argentinian’s left hand.
Although Martinez entered and exited the ropes the champion on Saturday night, he surely wasn’t treated like one before hand. In order to make a rematch with Williams a reality, Martinez was forced to make numerous concessions to Team Williams.
For starters, Martinez, who retained his WBC and Ring Magazine middleweight titles, had to accept a catch-weight of 157 lbs., three pounds shy of the middleweight limit.
He was forced to occupy the blue corner, which was used by underdogs all night long, while Williams staked his claim to the red corner.
“Maravilla’s” name was the first one read by ring announcer Michael Buffer, which betrayed the tradition of having the challenger’s name precede that of the champion’s.
Further, Martinez’s payday of just over one million dollars was significantly less than what “The Punisher” received.
The mind games that were played and the concessions Team Maravilla were forced to make had zero effect on Martinez’s performance, however. The slick Argentinian executed his game plan flawlessly — a game plan that was jotted down on hotel parchment by Sarmiento only two days prior.
“Two days ago, I changed the program completely,” Sarmiento said, speaking through translator and Martinez advisor, Sampson Lewkowicz. “I found a big error from Paul Williams in the middle of the night and I couldn’t sleep the whole night. The next morning I changed the strategy, totally.”
“He always puts his body in front of his legs,” Sarmiento explained. “If he doesn’t put his right hand in the front, he cannot throw the left.”
After the fight, in Martinez’s locker room, Lewkowicz held up Sarmiento’s genius, which was etched into a tiny notebook. The contents consisted of a strategy that was designed to stop Williams inside two rounds. Remarkably, Martinez followed Sarmiento’s roadmap to a knockout to a tee.
Famed boxing scribe, Thomas Hauser, who was present in Martinez’s locker room before the fight, assured the rest of the media that the notebook had not been tampered with.
With the help of Sarmiento’s critical eye, Martinez knew just when to unload the thunderous left that sent Williams toppling face-first to the canvas.
Couple his obliteration of Williams with his convincing unanimous decision against Kelly Pavlik seven months earlier and you have the most deserving candidate of Fighter of the Year.
Further, with Martinez’s success comes well-deserved recognition of Gaby Sarmiento, who has made a solid case for Trainer of the Year, as well.
Yesterday, HBO announced that Martinez-Williams II was the second most watched non Pay-Per-View boxing broadcast this year, second only to the Miguel Cotto-Yuri Foreman bout in Yankee Stadium. Further, Martinez punched his way onto television screens everywhere when ESPN replayed the knockout on SportsCenter.
The next time Martinez steps into the ring, he will not be disrespected. With one swing of his left hand, Martinez left no doubts that he is the best middleweight boxer on the planet. “Maravilla” is the undisputed king of the middleweight division.
After all, there is a reason he wears the crown.
You can reach Kyle Kinder at Twitter.com/KyleKinder
Photo by Claudia Bocanegra
