Theres a lot to like about Sergio Martinez, where to start? Great Guy, Great Story, Helluva Fighter and very much worthy of being the lineal Middleweight Champion of the word. His 2010 knockout of Paul Williams ( Prayers to the Punisher) was icing on an already Thrilling Encounter between the two men carried out in 2009. Since that time we've seen him overwhelm foes with an unorthodox style that reminds us someone we used to know; someone who left a much larger imprint on the Sport than Martinez ever will. Sometimes when someone comes along and does it differently and succeeds his legacy is left in the hands of those who shape perception; if he is lionized (like Ali) or left a little to be desired like Roy Jones WE determine how quickly (and easily) he is replicated. There will never be another Roy Jones and his prime though absent of challenges is not something that can be copied in an athletic context. Jones is now a part of HBO's Broadcasting Team and he needs the gig, he's also a great guy with an unselfish disposition; when he's covering a Sergio Martinez fight it is his nature to see himself (vanity?) rather than call it what it is-that's my job. Martinez is a freak of nature in terms of his conditioning which is why he is a legitimate Champion but he is not in Roy Jone's athletic zip code, he replicates the style due to inexperience while Jones created the style through genius akin to a DJ in the late 70's asking a homeboy to say a few rhymes over this break beat. We didn't always like Roy Jones, and once he got a business "pimp hand" he made it hard (and confusing) on us all, Martinez is 37 years old, humble and hungry, willing to play "B side" in his first PPV. The willingness to compare Martinez to Jones with a straight face is a passive aggressive attempt for us to reconcile with the parts of his reign that we felt were unfulfilled. There were no FOY candidates, no call outs, no stunning KO's of bad men we thought had a remote chance of touching him-because nobody was ever predicted to do such a thing. I am willing to give Sergio Martinez all he deserves but i don't feel it's rational to mention him in the same breath as Jones, as Katt Williams says "be grateful for that Chrysler 300 your driving, stop saying it looks like a Phantom, it does (in your mind).... until a Phantom pulls up". Roy Jones is a Phantom. I appreciate Sergio Martinez for the fighter he is not the one he'll never be, i don't have to pretend like he's Roy Jones to feel good about calling him Top 3 Pound for Pound either. However i do have Chavez beating him, because the kid goes "downstairs" in a way that brings out the truth in a man and the truth is Sergio Martinez is 37 years old and too small to hold the Mexican off.
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