Sergio Martinez is without question the favorite to win next Saturday when he faces Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. for the middleweight championship. Chavez Jr. is not without his supporters. Since scoring a TKO victory over middleweight contender Andy Lee, Junior’s chances have improved amongst fans and media. But when pressed, most just cite Junior’s size and strength as the main factors that’ll carry him. Chavez Jr. is no fool and knows those two attributes alone won’t be enough to wrest away the linear title from a man who’s scored knockouts in all four of his title defenses. In Junior’s final blog entry before next week’s clash, the young star lays out in detail the tools he’ll use to emerge victorious.
You’re a renowned body puncher, but Martinez is cagey, quick and able to fight from distance. Do you have a strategy to get close enough to him to use arguably your best weapon? Martinez seems to take your shared rivalry more personally than you do. Are you enjoying it? Is it a distraction?
Boxing is a turf war. It’s about owning the ring, taking the high ground and keeping it, and the better and most prepared fighter will be the one that dictates and controls the action. Martínez has a difficult style but it is up to me to get him — to fight my fight, not his, and to do that will require that I assert my power and utilize my advantages in youth, stamina, height and reach and pressure him every minute of every round. I have developed the right strategy not just to beat him but to beat him badly. All I need to do when we finally meet is to remain patient and disciplined and stick to the plan and I will win the fight.
I respect Sergio as a boxer, but not as a person. He has said a lot of things about me that are just not true. He is an ignorant person and a snob; he is underestimating me both as a person and as a boxer and he will pay for it in the ring. It’s not distraction for me, but it is a motivation to go in the ring and shut him up once and for all. Who knows if his car was really spray painted during training camp? But I promise he’ll be getting a lot of major body work done by me on September 15.
24/7 Chavez Jr./Martinez episode 2 debuts Sat, Sept. 8 at 12:30am ET/PT on HBO.
Chavez Jr. vs. Martinez takes place Sat., Sept. 15 live on HBO Pay-Per-View beginning at 9:00pm ET/6:00pm PT.
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 