WBC middleweight champ Sergio Martinez easily outboxed Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. for 11 rounds but got knocked down in the final round and barely made it to the final bell. Across town, on the same night, Saul "Canelo" Alvarez looked great in stopping a tough but undersized Josesito Lopez in five rounds to retain his WBC light middleweight title.
Neither Martinez nor Alvarez have a next fight lined up. Both would like a big payday against Floyd Mayweather Jr. but that appears unlikely. What if Martinez and Alvarez were to fight each other? At 22, Alvarez is already a big, strong light middleweight so moving up to 160 - or meeting at a catchweight - should't be an issue.
Who do you think would win this fight? Sergio Martinez or Canelo Alvarez? Vote in our poll.
Sergio Martinez: Fight-by-Fight Career Record
Saul Alvarez: Fight-by-Fight Career Record
Comments
Canelo is no Chavez Jr. He will find Martinez some way and knock him out.
Martinez would destroy Alvarez even in a catchweigth. He’s too fast & strong for canelo. I rather see canelo against cotto. This is a more competitive fight.
Alvarez is a tremendous body puncher and also takes a good shot. He has the upperbody of a heavyweight and will wear Martinez down .
Look for Alvarez to knock him out by seven or eight rounds
No doubt canelo all the way! This young dude is ready for the best out there
as i’ve said befor in comment I think Saul is one of the best i’ve seen
for years,so I think it would be a hard fight with Saul getting a late K.O.
alvarez has not fought any one yet. all names way passed there prime, or some one 2 weight classes below and he has fought no one else plain and simple.
I think a comment that Martinez “barely” made it to the final bell is wway out of line. He was doing a good job of punching at the end, and he has always gotten up after a knockdown. His win over Chavez was spectacular and definitive; he outboxed, outpunched and showed amazing resilience for a 38 year old guy. Alvarez id one of the best fighters to come along in a long time. But he is a forward motion guy, like Chavez, and can be outboxed. Also like Chavez, he gets hit a lot as shown in the Lopez fight. Lopez just could not hit him hard enough or frequently enough because he had to absorb all that punishment. Styles do make fights, and I agree with JR that a Cotto fight would be more interesting. I do think Martinez is not beatable right now, just too fast and too smart.
I really like Canelo… but he hasnt fought anyone who is close to their prime or even ranked anywhere near the top 10, sure maybe one day he will be great but right now “Maravilla” would destroy him in under 8 rds. too much speed and ring smarts too much power are things canelo has never faced… he lacks defense and gets hit cleanly by every fighter he has faced. this is no competition at the moment, maybe once we see alvarez fight someone who is in the top 10 and in his own weight class maybe then he can show how good he is.. but right he will just be another young boxer taken to school by martinez.
People forget that Sergio Martinez was the Junior Middleweight Champion & in fact is a natural Junior Middleweight. He clearly outboxed a heavyweight in defeating Julio Caesar Chavez Jr. Martinez made a tactical mistake in trying to slug it out with a man who likely weighed over 200 lbs. He could have easily went into a tactical Cover-Up defense and simply evaded Chavez by conceding a round, or posibly even winning it by outboxing Chavez because he was so much superior in the art of the sport in angle fighting and speed of hand & foot. Chavez missed mightly so many times in that bout he was often made to look like an inept novice. Martinez is an All-Time great & I think ppeople would be amazed at how easily he would defeat Canelo. He probably is at his ultimate best at 154 lbs.
Canelo has only fought fighters past their prime??? How is that any different than Mayweather? Cotto was easily 4 years past his best years, Shane Mosley and De La Hoya had their best years in the late 90′s and early 2000s. And Marquez was a Lightweight (135 lbs) moving up to Welterweight (147lbs) when he fought Mayweather. So in a way fighting guys in their prime doesn’t really mean anything in boxing. Another thing, @phil titan, JCC jr was no where near 200lbs…. 180-185 is more believable…. considering just the day before he weighed in at 158 lbs…. to balloon up to over 200lbs in a little over 24 hours (a 40 lb+ weight gain) just seems a bit far fetched. With all that being said, Martinez vs Alvarez should be made and it would be a very competitive fight since Canelo is obviously more skilled than JCC jr and not over his prime like Cotto. I still see a Martinez/Canelo fight going the distance with Martinez winning a split decision. Canelo can’t hit as hard as Jr since he doesn’t weigh 180lbs and Sergio just won’t knock him out since Canelo has never been knocked down nor has he been close to being hurt in a fight. Make that fight happen I say!
Canelo has more power in his hands and a better counter puncher than Chavez jr he is also faster than Chavez so I think he definetly has a good chance at beating martinez
THANK U JOHNNY LONDON!!! Dam ppl r ignprant . canelo beat a undersize dude who was beat before the opening bell rang and martinez who beat a 180+ pounder , barely but got away with a W. if canelo got in the ring with a good name his flaws would be ezposed and finally canelos true colors will show. fighting weaker oppositon makes one look good on the outside. put a miguel cotto, mayweather, pacquia and most definitly martinez and everyone will see canelo as a good fighter. us mexicans r desperate for another mexican great that we over hype canelo.. if anyone is mexicos nxt big shot its abner mares..
Sergio Martinez is to seasoned of a fighter and has much more experience than Canelo. You cannot compare the oppositiion that Martinez has faced with that of Canelo’s latest opponents.
Speed and movement will baffle the young and game lion, but the matador will run circles on him and nullify the aggression and power and stymie the younger man’s attack. I see Martinez winning in an overwhelming unanimous 12 round decision.
The young man is not ready for Martinez and will fall in 8. Why rush him?
Sergio Martinez is an elite Boxer. This is the man who deserves to be ranked 31 in all pound-for-pound ratings. When he defeated Julio Caesar Chavez Jr., it was really a Middleweight versus a Heavyweight & other than the strategical error of going broke for a KO victory fought a pretty much perfect fight in easily outboxing Chavez to such a degree that Chavez Jr. looked like a rank amateur. Canelo Alvarez is a good fighter with a lot of time & room to improve. He would suffer a similar fate to Chavez, except he most likely doesn’t have Chavez’s iron chin. This bout would be the vehicle where his chin most certainly would be tested to the highest degree as I would expect him to be hammered into submission while being totally perplexed by this Argentine Matador with a style so unique, yet so effective, that there is no way Canelo can be ready for it. May in 2-3 years it would be different, but here in the present, Martinez by 9th KO, not TKO, a 10 count KO.
Martinez an all-time great? please? His best wins are against Kelly Pavlick (who was coming off rehab) and Paul Williams…his other “great”wins would be against Junior and Macklin and that Ukranian guy…not a great list for an all time great..it’s even weaker then Joe Calzaghe’s and you know how much they sh*t on him for his resume..Sergio is good but he ain’t no matador and he is not an all-time great…but I do agree with you he does deserve to be ranked 31 in the top pound for pound list lol. Julio WAS an amateur boxer, and he still almost knocked out martinez..and he weighed in around 180-185 pounds..not a heavyweight.
Martinez is not a great fighter. The majority of his European fights were against no name fighters in Spain. He has some good speed and power however he got lucky in the last round against JC Jr. Canelo could catch hime in the early rounds and damage his body. Martinez is old and in great shape but the youth of Canelo could overpower him. Canelo is good at finding openings and hitting the ribs and body. I think Canelo could wear down and punish Martinez. They need to fight to see who is the better fighter.
It’s light’s out for Matinez. Canelo is not only as strong but has better boxing mechanics than Martinez. He’s out of there before the 8th round ends. take it to the bank.