Sergio 'Maravilla' Martínez: From Quilmes and the Spanish Club Doors to Middleweight King
Sergio Martínez only began boxing at 20, built his career from a base in Spain, and became lineal middleweight champion with wins over Kelly Pavlik, Paul Williams and Julio César Chávez Jr. before his knees failed him against Miguel Cotto.
Sergio Martínez did not commit to boxing until he was 20. Fifteen years later he was middleweight champion of the world, Fighter of the Year and the author of one of the most famous one-punch knockouts of his era. His road ran from Quilmes, outside Buenos Aires, to a small town near Madrid and on to Atlantic City, Las Vegas and Madison Square Garden, and in the end it was his knees that set its limits.
A Cyclist and Footballer From Quilmes
Sergio Gabriel Martínez was born on February 21, 1975, in Avellaneda, in Buenos Aires Province, and his family soon moved to nearby Quilmes. He was bullied as a boy, and like his father he went into construction and metal work, alongside his brothers Sebastián and Hugo Jr. His first sports were cycling and football. Only in 1995, at 20, did he decide to become a boxer. Trained by his uncle, Rubén Paniagua, he went 39-2 as an amateur, despite missing about a year after breaking his left hand in August 1996. Rather than wait for the 2000 Olympics, he judged himself too old and turned professional.
Early Professional Years and the Margarito Lesson
His debut came on December 27, 1997, in Ituzaingó, where Cristian Marcelo Vivas was disqualified in the second round. He went unbeaten through his first 17 bouts in Argentina, a draw with Mario Javier Nieva the only blemish.
His first real test abroad went badly. On February 19, 2000, at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, he faced Antonio Margarito, was dropped in the opening round and was stopped in the seventh. Back home he won the Argentine welterweight title, but by early 2002 he was ready to leave.
The Spanish Years: Bouncer, Dishwasher, Champion
After his last Argentine fight in February 2002, Martínez moved to Spain and set up with trainer Gabriel Sarmiento in Azuqueca de Henares, a town outside Madrid. To get by he worked as a nightclub bouncer, a dishwasher and a construction worker, and modeled for Adidas and Nike.
He boxed four times in Spain between April 2002 and May 2003 before getting a call to fight Richard Williams in England for the IBO light middleweight title on eight days' notice. Williams put him down in the second and eleventh rounds, yet Martínez still won a unanimous decision. He made two defenses in the United Kingdom, knocking out Adrian Stone in Bristol and then stopping Williams in the ninth round of their rematch in Belfast. Spain remained his home; he still lives in Madrid.
Breakthrough in America: Bunema, Cintrón and Williams
On October 4, 2008, at the Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula, California, Martínez won the WBC interim light middleweight title when Alex Bunema retired after eight rounds. His next fight, against Kermit Cintrón on February 14, 2009, in Sunrise, Florida, ended in a majority draw that many ringside observers felt he had won. A seventh-round left hand that floored Cintrón was ruled a knockdown and then waved off after Cintrón protested. In May 2009 the WBC stripped the injured Vernon Forrest and elevated Martínez to full champion.
That December he met Paul Williams at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. Both men went down in the first round, Williams controlled the middle stretch, Martínez rallied from the eighth through the tenth, and Williams finished stronger. The judges returned a majority decision for Williams: 119-110, 115-113 and 114-114.
Pavlik and the Left Hand That Ended Williams
Martínez moved up to middleweight and challenged Kelly Pavlik, the WBC, WBO and The Ring champion, on April 17, 2010, again at Boardwalk Hall. Despite a seventh-round knockdown, he cut Pavlik over both eyes and won a unanimous decision and the lineal title. The WBO later stripped him for failing to declare his weight class within its deadline, and he gave up his WBC light middleweight title to keep the WBC belt at 160 pounds.
The rematch on November 20, 2010, in Atlantic City lasted about a minute into the second round. As Williams threw a left of his own, Martínez landed an overhand left, and Williams fell flat and was counted out. The Ring named it the Knockout of the Year, and Martínez was voted Fighter of the Year by both The Ring and the Boxing Writers Association of America.
Defending the Crown: Dzinziruk, Barker, Macklin
In March 2011 at Foxwoods in Connecticut he dropped the unbeaten Serhiy Dzinziruk five times and stopped him in the eighth round. Darren Barker, the unbeaten European champion, troubled him early in Atlantic City that October before a right hook finished him in the eleventh. On St. Patrick's Day 2012 in the Madison Square Garden Theater, Matthew Macklin scored a seventh-round knockdown and was competitive on the cards until Martínez floored him twice in the eleventh and Macklin's corner stopped the fight. Most outlets now ranked him third pound for pound, behind Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao.
Las Vegas, 2012: Eleven Rounds and One Wild Twelfth
By the time he met Julio César Chávez Jr. on September 15, 2012, at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Martínez had lost his WBC belt without losing a fight; the Associated Press reported he was stripped for not facing the mandatory challenger, a position Chávez held. Before a sellout crowd of 16,939, Martínez outboxed the younger man for eleven rounds. In the twelfth Chávez hurt him and put him on the canvas, and instead of holding, the 37-year-old kept trading until the bell. Accounts of that round differ: Agence France-Presse and most records list one knockdown, while the AP report carried by Fox News said he was dropped twice. AFP gave the cards as 117-110 (Stanley Christodoulou) and 118-109 twice (Adalaide Byrd, Dave Moretti); the AP printed slightly different figures. "He caught me with a good left hook and I lost my balance," Martínez said, as quoted by AFP. The Ring later named the twelfth its Round of the Year.
The win cost him. He had broken his left hand around the fourth round and torn the meniscus in his right knee, which needed surgery.
The Knees Give Out: Murray and Cotto
In April 2013 Martínez fought at home for the first time since 2002, outpointing Martin Murray at the José Amalfitani Stadium in Buenos Aires. Observers saw clear decline, and 14 months passed before he fought again.
On June 7, 2014, at Madison Square Garden, the 39-year-old champion met Miguel Cotto with two right knee operations behind him, according to ESPN's Dan Rafael. Cotto landed a left hook almost immediately and dropped him three times in the first round. Martínez, wearing knee braces, survived into the late rounds, but after a fourth knockdown in the ninth his trainer Pablo Sarmiento kept him on his stool, and referee Michael Griffin waved the fight off six seconds into the tenth before 21,090 fans. All three judges had it 90-77 for Cotto. The AP reported that Martínez's promoter said his fighter blamed the first punch, not his knees, for what followed. On June 13, 2015, Martínez announced his retirement at 40, citing age and his knees.
A Comeback at 45
He did not stay away. On August 21, 2020, six years after the Cotto fight, Martínez returned in Spain at 45 against José Miguel Fandiño, dropped him twice in the seventh round and saw Fandiño's corner throw in the towel. On December 19, 2020, he stopped Jussi Koivula in the ninth. Wikipedia's record lists further wins in Spain after that, including a decision over Brian Rose in 2021.
Legacy of a Late Starter
Martínez started boxing at 20, won his first major world title at 33 and peaked in his mid-thirties. A fast southpaw who often fought with his hands low, he was one of the most watchable champions of his time. Outside the ring he has spoken out against bullying and domestic violence and wrote a memoir, "Corazón de Rey." In 2020 Argentina's Konex Foundation gave him its Platinum award as the country's best boxer of the decade.
Sources
- Sergio Martínez (boxer), Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
- Julio César Chávez Jr. vs. Sergio Martínez, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
- Miguel Cotto stops Sergio Martinez, Dan Rafael, ESPN, June 8, 2014
- Sergio Martinez defeats Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. for title, Associated Press via Fox News, September 15, 2012
- Martinez survives knockdown to dethrone Chavez, AFP via Hürriyet Daily News, September 16, 2012
- Martinez exits retirement, 3 Kings Boxing, August 21, 2020
