Argentina’s Sergio Martinez knocked out American Paul Williams with one explosive second-round punch on Saturday to retain his World Boxing Council middleweight world title.
The left hook caught Williams on the jaw and sent the American toppling face-first to the canvas 1:10 of the second round.
As Martinez began to celebrate, doctors entered the ring to tend to Williams, who was able to get to his feet after several minutes.
PHOTO: AFP
Martinez, who improved to 46-2-2 with 25 knockouts, avenged a defeat to Williams in December last year, when the American won their action-packed encounter by a 12-round majority decision. Both fighters went down in the first round of that fight.
Martinez rebounded from that defeat to capture his title in April with a unanimous 12-round decision over another American, Kelly Pavlik.
Williams, who had said he felt like Martinez “stole” a crown that should be his, fell to 39-2 with 27 knockouts.
Martinez, stung by the decision in his first fight with Williams, had said coming in that he didn’t intend to let the judges decide the rematch.
“I didn’t want the judges to rob me this time,” he said.
Added Martinez promoter Lou DiBella: “He said, ‘I’m going to knock him out. The fight is not -going to go seven rounds, I’m going to knock him out.’ I was worried like a maniac and he said, ‘No, I’m knocking him out. Relax.’”
Martinez delivered a series of crisp blows in the opening round and Williams never saw the knockout punch coming in the second.
“I started to attack, and when I did, we knew he was going to make a mistake, because he always makes mistakes,” Martinez said. “He left me a lot of room to come in and hit him.”
Said Williams: “I just got caught with a punch. He got me with a clean shot.”
Martinez, who earned slightly more than US$1 million for his evening’s work, said he wants to fight two or three more times before hanging up his gloves.
He mentioned as possible candidates Filipino hero Manny Pacquiao and American Floyd Mayweather — the man Pacquiao displaced as pound-for-pound king.
However, most fight fans still hope those two will eventually meet, and DiBella didn’t seem to think a Pacquiao or Mayweather bout was likely for Martinez.
“If you’re Pacquiao, would you go near him? You think Mayweather will fight him?” DiBella said. “We’re going to have a problem making the next fight because that’s how good he is.”
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