Williams And Martinez Slugfest

[Black Star Boxing]

If there ever was a boxing match that demanded a re-match, it was the "war" between Paul "The Punisher" Williams and Sergio "Maravilla" Martinez, in Atlantic City's, Boardwalk Hall in New Jersey, in a catch weight fight last night, Saturday, December 5, 2009.

Ironically this fight was made, due to the fact that Williams' original opponent, Kelly "The Ghost" Pavlick, twice pulled out of the fights, due to "questionable" illnesses, giving credit to the stated fact or myth, that Williams was the modern day most feared fighter in the ring, and since Martinez was also feared, it seemed only just to pair the two fighters together.

They both scored knockdowns in the very first round, with Williams suffering the worst damage, and the S.R.O. crowd smelled an upset by the underdog Martinez, at least in the first three rounds, which in my opinion, Williams lost.

But, back came Williams dishing out his usual punishment, jabs, body punches, aggressiveness, seriously hurting Martinez. Martinez then fought back hurting Williams and even cutting him severely on both eyes, and making his nose bleed profusely. This was a throwback to the Mickey Ward and Arturo Gatti, last-man-standing fights, to the final bell.

The fight satisfied the crowd who weathered the rain and snow from all points, East, West, North, and South, to be in attendance to witness this boxing classic of the ages.

Perhaps what gave Williams the decision was the fact that he seemed to be the busier of the two, especially with his long jab, and pushing forward, while Martinez with his hands down appeared to tire and he was backing up trying to avoid William's punches.

I had it for Williams 113 to 112.

Take note: Judge Lederman scored the fight, 114-114, a draw, Judge Carter scored the fight, 115-113 for Williams, and Judge Benoit outrageously scored the fight, 119-110 for Williams; giving Martinez only one round. What fight was he watching? The fight was actually so close and competitive that I would've been comfortable with a "draw".

Nevertheless, the two most feared men in boxing will have to meet again, thanks to the boxing judges, the demand of the public, and also of course Martinez's demands for a rematch.

The rest of the fight card was interesting and exciting with the quick return of Cristobal "The Nightmare" Arreola, K.O. victim of Vitali Klitschko, vs. Brian "The Beast" Minto, ex-football player from Pennsylvania, who gave Arreola a "run" for his money for four rounds until being stopped.

In another fight, this one in Newcastle, England, Amir Khan, WBA light-welterweight Champ retained his title by stopping Brooklyn's Dmitriy Salita in 76 seconds of the first round after scoring three knockdowns. I have been following Khan's career since the past Olympics, when as a young 18 years of age he won a Silver medal, losing only to a veteran Cuban. His career has blossomed after being placed under the tutelage of Freddy Roach, trainer and mentor of Manny "PacMan" Pacquiao, who has a date with Floyd Mayweather, Jr., tentatively scheduled for March 13, 2010.

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