Sergio Martinez

Everybody loves a good knockout.  And yeah, his was awesome.

And, yeah, his KO gave the sport of boxing a good shot in the arm in terms of publicity, which it needed desperately.  What's upsetting is that good knockouts come so infrequently on the championship level these days that viewers--from everyday YouTubers to casual fans to professional analysists--blow them into the stratosphere when they do happen.  Such is the case with Sergio Martinez's KO against Paul Williams last November.

Sergio Martinez loves a good fight.  His spirit in the ring is reminiscent of Evander Holyfield's, in the sense that he's turned on by genuine competition.  His first fight with Paul Williams and his conquest of Kelly Pavlik show the best of this.  Simply said, he's a skilled, exciting, all around great fighter.  But you can't overlook the basic facts here--he can be matched!  Pavlik had him on the canvas, and Williams won the first fight, close as it was.  I got the sense that everybody forgot about this after his epic KO.

Does Martinez deserve to be ranked within the top 10 pound-for-pound right now?  Probably.  He's certainly one of the best professional boxers out there.  Does he deserve to be at the number 3 spot, as The Ring has him?  Well, that's iffy if you ask me--depends on where others are ranked.  He's certainly behind Pacquiao; I think that goes without saying.  Putting him ahead of Nonito Donaire makes sense; the Filipino Bantamweight, impressive as he is, still has room for improvement.  And he ought to be ahead of Floyd, who's on the verge of a full year of inactivity, but somehow The Ring keeps him at number 2.

But how about Juan Manuel Marquez?  Marquez is one of the most technical aggressors ever in the sport of boxing, and he's a ton of fun to watch.  I'd venture to say that if Marquez and Martinez were in the same weight class, Marquez would win.  (It would actually be a great fight.)  He has the smarter punches and a more overwhelming volume of them.  But Marquez hasn't had a jaw-dropping knockout in years.  And yet to me it goes without saying that Marquez is ahead of Martinez pound-for-pound.  But very few (non-Mexican) followers of the sport would agree, and that's because of the Williams KO.  I think similar cases could be made for Timothy Bradley, who's work ethic in the ring is matched by no one except Pacquiao and perhaps Mayweather; and Amir Khan, who's speed on offense is simply stunning but who's one loss has kept him out of The Ring's top 10.

What Martinez needs right now is a real test, if not just to prove that his popularity boost was no fluke.  KOs are terrific but they certainly aren't everything.

-JD