Sergio Gabriel Martinez v Martin Murray

On paper this was a mismatch. One of the pound-for-pound best in the world, Sergio Gabriel Martinez (51-2-2, 28) was facing the relatively unknown Martin Murray (25-1-1, 11) who although being the WBA "interim" Middleweight champion was relatively unknown on the international stage. Paper however doesn't have fights for us and instead we ended up with an enthralling and very evenly matched bout that saw neither man manage to enforce themselves for more than just a few rounds at a time.

The bout started slowly, with Murray using a high guard and blocking much of Martinez's attacks. Although Murray was defensively sound early on he really didn't through too much and was clearly behind on all 3 of the official cards at the 4 round point (which we knew due to the controversial open scoring that was in effect).

Following the slow start for Murray he started to let his hands go more and more through the middle rounds and found a home for his right hand which connected with an alarming success rate. The right hand and even the left hooks started to really make a dent in Martinez who was forced to feel the weight on Murray's shots and they appeared to shake him up several times before dropping him in round 7 as Murray started to overturn the early deficit on the cards.

Despite his excellent charge through the middle section of the fight Murray was still behind on the official cards by scores of 77-74 and 76-75 (twice). Unlike the score cards in the recent Austin Tout v Saul "Canelo" Alvarez fight knowing the scores here did somewhat reflect the bout and seemed to spur on the fighter who was behind, despite the fact he had a very quiet round 9.

In round 10 Martinez appeared to be dropped though the referee ruled it a slip, a call that would effectively cost Murray a 3-point swing in the round. Sadly for Murray he couldn't drop Martinez again in the final 2 rounds despite trying most notably in round 12. Had he done saw he may have managed to dethrone Martinez of the Middleweight crown, instead Martinez managed to retain his WBC title.

With a slippy canvas perhaps fighting in an outdoor arena with rain blowing on to the ring helped Murray though in all honesty Martinez, aged 38, appears to be at the end of the line. Murray put on a good performance don't get me wrong, but Martinez didn't look like the man who dominated Julio Cesar Chavez Jr for 11 rounds, he instead looked like an old man.

For Murray this was his gateway to bigger fights. Sure he may have lost but he has shown himself capable enough of mixing it with the best. As the WBA "interim" champion he really should be looking forward to the winner of the upcoming Gennady Golovkin v Matthew Macklin bout with the winner, the "WBA Regular" champion being the most obvious opponent for Murray.

Sergio Martinez v Julio Cesar Chavez Jr

Sergio Gabriel Martinez (50-2-2, 28) proved he was the Middleweight champion of the world as he reclaimed the WBC Middleweight title and thoroughly dominated Julio Cesar Chavez Jr (46-1-1-1, 32) despite a late scare.

The bout started slowly with a clear feeling out round as Martinez boxed on the outside landing jab after jab against Chavez who was stalking and looking to try and cut the distance. Though it was obvious from the early stages that Martinez was the much, much faster fighter with both his hands and feet.

In the the third round Chavez started to have some, though very limited, success as he managed to cut the distance, though it seemed that every time Chavez landed one or two Martinez would land 4 or 5 in return. By now it was becoming clear that Martinez was not only the more skilled of the two fighters but was also wanting to mentally break Chavez and he started to turn the screw over the following few rounds, even beating Chavez on the inside. By the end of the fourth Chavez's nose was bleeding and it was obvious that he was being hurt by the accurate stream of jabs by Martinez.

After Martinez had easily dominated both the 5th and 6th round it seemed as if Chavez was with out a plan. Chavez kept walking forward but threw nothing whilst Martinez danced around him, landing shot after shot. It appeared at the end of round 6 as if Chavez's nose had been broken and whilst he was showing real heart he was starting to take a real beating.


Suddenly in round 8 Chavez had one of his best rounds (which wasn't saying much up to this point) as he tagged Martinez with a solid shot that opened up a cut around the left eye of Martinez. Despite landing the solid punch Chavez was other-wise clearly outboxed as he fell yet further behind on the cards.

Going into round 11, it was a shut out and Freddie Roach, in Chavez's corner, knew his man was needing a knock out. Chavez attempted to go for the KO and seemed to hurt Martinez at one point before Martinez struck back shaking up Chavez in what, appeared at the time to be the round of the fight...then we got round 12.

With everyone knowing Chavez needed a knockout he really went for it and for the first time he really let his hands go, tagging Martinez clean on the chin a number of times before Martinez went down hard. It suddenly appeared as if history was going to repeat it's self and Chavez Jr was going to replicate what his dad did to Meldrick Taylor. Chavez went all out for the KO but failed to land the one extra shot he needed before Martinez recovered his senses and survived the rest of the round.

Whilst some may have been expecting some awful score cards in favour of Chavez, the judges did the right thing and all 3 of them had Martinez as a clear winner.