Former two-time world champion 47-year-old Sergio "Maravilla" Martinez, who is currently ranked third in the WBA middleweight rankings, is confident that he will have the opportunity to fight for the world title in 2023 and intends to challenge Gennady Golovkineven if his life is in danger in this battle.
“If I could choose who to challenge, I would name Gennady Golovkin,” Martinez said. “Someone might say that Golovkin will kill me. Yes, I know that he can kill me. Or not. I can teach him a boxing lesson. I am getting better every day. I'm not as good as I used to be, but I'm getting a lot better."
Martinez was once one of the best in the light middleweight and middleweight divisions, while he regularly appeared in the ratings of the best P4P. He announced his retirement in 2014 after losing ahead of schedule to Miguel Cotto. In 2020, after six years of retirement, Martinez returned to, as he claims, become world champion again. Since then, Martinez has had five fights and won all of them, but his opponents were quite low level.
Now Martinez is quite high in the rankings and believes that his fight may soon take place either with super champion Golovkin or with WBA "regular" champion Erislandy Lara.
“I intend to fight Gennady Golovkin,” Martinez said. “Perhaps my manager will achieve a fight with Lara. But I know that a fight with Lara can be very boring. Lara gets on her bike and dances around you, constantly moving, so it's going to be a nasty fight. With Golovkin, I think it would be nice, even if he can tear me to pieces. Or not".
“This is complete madness, I know, but I believe in myself and that I can give an incredible fight against Golovkin,” Martinez said. “And I need to fight at a high level, because if I don’t, he will kill me.” With Golovkin, you get a good match of styles. I think we could give a great fight. I need to perform at a high level to beat him. I still believe in myself, and I know this is crazy, because if I fail at something, Golovkin will just kill me or destroy me.
Martinez is 47, but his potential opponents will also be over 40 if the time comes for such fights. In April, Erislandy Lara will turn 40 years old, and Gennady Golovkin - 41 years old.
“I am eight years older than Lara and almost the same as Golovkin,” Martinez added. “In February, I will turn 48, seven more than Golovkin.”
At the same time, the Argentine believes that age will not be a key factor in a potential fight with Golovkin or Lara.
“When two champions meet, or a champion with a mandatory challenger, there is little difference between them,” Martinez said. - What will matter is your brains, not age. It will not even be physical training, because we are all in excellent shape at the level required for a world champion. And Golovkin, and Lara, and I, if we fight each other, we will be at a very high level from a physical point of view. But the difference will be who has better tactics and strategy, and who is better to recover in the last week before the fight.
Martinez admits that his level of opposition since his return to boxing has been very low, and that puts him on a lower level than Golovkin or Lara.
“I’m not at the level of Golovkin or Lara yet,” Martinez admitted. - Because the level of opposition that I had is lower, and sometimes much lower. But I needed contact with the ring, with the ropes, the referee. I needed to perform, I needed the enemy to attack me, beat me, seek to hurt me. This is what I needed, and I know that I am progressing and developing by leaps and bounds."
Sergio understands that due to his current WBA ranking, the opportunity to win a world title may appear at any moment. But he is also aware that this may not be until 2024, when he will be 49 years old.
“I understand that, taking third place, the fight for the world title can take place at any time,” Martinez said. - I can hope that in 2023, starting from July, I will have a real chance to get a fight for the world title. Not later than March 2024. I'll be 49 by then. Well, Bernard Hopkins fought at 51 and won his last fight at 50."
