Martinez and Williams ready for their rematch
Associated Press
NEW YORK
Boxing returned to the mainstream last week, thanks to a pint-sized Filipino fighter named Manny Pacquiao who made even the most casual sports fan pay attention.
Too bad he used Antonio Margarito as little more than a punching bag.
That won’t be the case tonight, when Sergio Martinez defends his middleweight title against Paul Williams in Atlantic City, a rematch of one of last year’s exceptional fights.
Neither has the name recognition of Pacquiao, which means the HBO broadcast from Boardwalk Hall will draw a sliver of the attention. But they’re perhaps the two best fighters in the world after Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr., and they always leave everything in the ring.
“I know there’s been a lot of stuff said, people are saying all kinds of stuff to hype up the fight, but I really don’t have a whole lot to say,” Williams said this week.
“I know Sergio will bring his A-game with him, but I’ve been in there with him, just like he’s been in there with me. We know what to expect. There’s going to be some fighting.”
If the Pacquiao-Margarito fight was one for the masses, this is one for boxing fans.
When they met last December, Williams and Martinez traded first-round knockdowns before spending the next 11 rounds trading punches, delighting the few thousand fans who made it inside Boardwalk Hall’s Adrian Phillips Ballroom to see them touch gloves.
Both of them were bruised and battered, but they never stopped throwing punches until the final bell sounded. Then they both raised their arms in victory, and for good reason — one judge scored the fight even while the other two favored Williams just enough to give him the nod. It was a Fight of the Year candidate that could have gone either way.
“We’ve read a lot of stories the last few months about the fans, media, everyone wanted to see the biggest and best fights that could be made,” Williams promoter Dan Goossen said. “No argument this is one of those fights.”