by Hans Olson
“If Sergio Martinez can make 150, let’s make the fight happen,” said pound for pound king Floyd Mayweather in a Yahoo Sports story on Wednesday.
“Like I said, there are no excuses. I’m a little different from other guys. He’s got a very, very impressive style. But like I said before, my main focus is a Manny Pacquiao fight.”
Kevin Iole, the writer for Yahoo Sports, suggested in his piece that “Martinez would have to abandon a planned March 17 fight with Matthew Macklin, but given the money involved in a Mayweather fight, that would not be an issue.”
Today in a statement to Boxing Insider, Sergio Martinez responded to Floyd Mayweather.
“I’m focused 100% on Matthew Macklin, and I’m not interested in anything else. Floyd had enough time to reach a deal. Anyway, if he wants the fight he knows who he has to speak with. I said 150 and I will keep my promise. The same way I ask Hopkins and Ward [to meet at] a catch-weight, I don’t have problems in fighting at Jr. Middleweight.Talk is cheap. Fight or shut up. November would be a good month. I would have enough time to reach 150 and you could be recovered from your holidays.”
Martinez fulfilling an obligation to his March 17 fight at Madison Square Garden isn’t a surprise. Contracts are signed, pressers have happened, and Sergio is now entrenched in a hard training camp in Oxnard, CA. If he were to cancel the fight with Macklin, it could be detrimental to his preparation for Floyd Mayweather.
A November date makes sense. As Sergio points out, it will give him ample time to properly drop down to 150 lb., something that needs to be done carefully.
There will be some who ask why Sergio wouldn’t fight both Matthew Macklin and Floyd Mayweather…first Macklin in March, and Mayweather in May. Well, in this scenario the fights would be only 7 weeks apart. That’s unrealistic.
At the same time, Floyd Mayweather cannot be faulted here either. He did say he would fight Sergio Martinez on May 5. There’s no guarantee that Floyd will even fight again in 2012 after that.
Let’s hope each take care of business in their respective upcoming bouts, and make it a priority to fight each other next.
Boxing Insider’s Hans Olson can be reached at hanswilliamolson@yahoo.com. Follow him on Twitter @hansolson