WBC Middleweight champion Sergio Gabriel Martinez (50-2-2, 28) has been out of the ring since suffering various injuries in his bout with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr last September. He returns to the ring this week as he goes back to Argentina for his first fight there in over a decade, his opponent, the unbeaten Brit Martin Murray (25-0-1, 11) will be looking to score his biggest victory and arguably the biggest upset of the year.
At 38 years old Martinez is certainly a fighter coming to the end of his career. Sure he completely out boxed and outsped Chavez last time out but after suffering a nasty injury to his knee there is every chance he'll have slowed. In all honesty if Martinez loses his wheels he'll be a much more limited fighter than the one we are used to.
At his best Martinez is a skilled fighter who combines very quick reactions with a great engine, a fantastic jab and the ability either counter an opponent or beat them with work-rate from a distance, especially his straight shots.
Fighting from a Southpaw stance and with a 73" wingspan Martinez is an incredibly tricky fighter. Whilst his biggest fault might be that he isn't a huge puncher (despite a memorable KO over Paul Williams) he has more than respectable power and can hurt fighters, though admittedly it's rare that he hurts a guy with a single shot, instead of an accumulation of sharp punches. It's those accumulated shots that Martinez can break fighters down with mentally and physically, though if his opponents leaves themselves open he will counter with power.
Going in to this bout it's fair to say that Murray is a big under-dog and it's with good reason. Not only is the bout a big step up for the 30 year old from St Helens but it's also away from home (only his second bout outside of the UK). Despite being the under-dog however Murray will feel he has more than just half a chance. Not only is he unbeaten but he is also a fighter coming in to his peak years physically.
Although Murray has really been a British level fighter for much of his career he has already fought on the world stage notably drawing in Germany to Felix Sturm in a WBA title bout. The draw with Sturm announced Murray as a fighter to keep an eye on though in all honesty the result was hugely unexpected as Murray hadn't been fighting opponents that were even nearing fringe world level.
Since the draw with Sturm, Murray has scored 2 victories with the most recent of those coming in November when he stopped Jorge Navarro for the WBA "interim" Middleweight title.
Murray is over-all solid, he's not the type to over-whelms fighters or to take them out with a single head shot but his body work is very good, and although he has been stopping fighters with shots to the midsection I get the feeling that his shots there are more about placement than power. It's with the body shots that he arguably stand his best chance of beating Martinez though it's more through grinding Martinez down with them than taking him out with a single shot.
Although Murray can pull off the upset,I don't see it happening if truth be told. Martinez's might not be the fighter he was but I still see him being too good and too fast.
Prediction-Martinez TKO10
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