FINALLY SERGIO MARTINEZ GET HIS DUE

Sergio Martinez W 12 Kelly Pavlik SCORES: 115-112, 115-111, 116-111

The fight was fought closely the whole way through with 3 distinct momentum changes. I scored the fight for Sergio Martinez 115-112. Sergio Martinez started the fight on his bike and won the first 4 rounds with fast counter-punches. Sergio cut the champ over the left eye with a sharp punch. Even though Sergio was winning you had a feeling that Kelly's size would cause him problems. You could tell if Kelly didn't change his game plan he was in for a long night. Then in the 5th Kelly stared to close the distance and score with his more effective jab. He adjusted to the speed and tightened up his defense to give the challenger problems. Kelly was making serious head room putting rounds in the bank. The lead right hand that Sergio was landing in the first 4 rounds wasn't finding home. He was landing the harder punches and in the 7TH round he knocked down the slick challenger. Even though Sergio was off balance it was a knockdown and would give Pavlik a 2 point round.After the 7TH round it looked like Pavlik was taking over the fight and would retain his belts. I had him winning rounds 5 through the 8. The big problem with the 8TH round for Pavlik was the fact that he was cut over his right eye now. This cut was more severe then the first, and he was bleeding like a stuck pig. This cut gave Martinez his second wind and motivated him to attack his much bigger opponent. Pavlik's corner could not stop the flow of blood from the right eye and he started the 9TH round already bleeding. His cut-man was working on the less severe cut on his left side instead of his right. The blood effected him, and Martinez targeted the cut to take back control of the fight. Sergio went on the win the final 4 rounds to win the fight on my scorecard. Kelly can't deal with speed and should move up to super middleweight. Sergio should look for the biggest fight and that would probably be a rematch with Paul Williams. This could be for the WBC, WBO, and the Ring middleweight titles he just took off of Pavlik. There is a rematch clause and you can bet Pavlik will try to get the next fight with him. Sergio is now the undisputed middleweight champion, and the best fighter at 154, with the WBC belt. It seemed like even though Pavlik fought well he still could't shake the demons of his past. A young fighter's career can be destroyed by beating like B-Hop gave him. I just hope he can recover enough to get some confidence back, and give us some good fights at super middleweight. Sergio on the other hand has the world in the palm of his hand. He has many options right now that he holds belts in 2 different weight classes. He can either defend his middleweight title against Paul Williams, or anyone who steps up. He can also defend his jr. middleweight title to big name fighter who want to step up from welterweight. Anyway you slice it he will have a big payday ahead of him.