TAKING THE LEAD
EL PANTEÓN A win over a pound-for-pound entrant would likely put Martinez on his way to entering the Argentine pantheon of all- time greats. Here are a few of the fighters that Martinez would be joining should he pull off the upset against Rodriguez.
after working in the local shipyards and then decorated them with the last few drops of paint at the bottom of cans they found at their jobs. La Boca is more than home to Martinez; it’s his muse, and it’s the place where he had to earn his stripes in fistfights in the street and even trying to fend off people trying to evict him from his home on Olavarría Street. It is also the place where his father, Abel, introduced him to boxing at a young age, and the same place where “El Puma” (not the more commonly ascribed “Pumita,” as he has frowned upon the use of that diminutive since winning his title) swore to honor his legacy by becoming world champion one day. Now, before and after each fight, he strikes a half-squatting, crossed-arm pose, making sure to display his left triceps and the large tattoo that features the name of his late dad, who passed away in 2014 after a lengthy battle with cancer. “He is always with me,” said Martinez, who can hardly speak about his family without becoming intensely emotional. “He is always
top pound-for-pound fighter in Floyd Mayweather Jr. In fight one, Maidana came close to dethroning not only the best in his division but in all of the sport of boxing, and Martinez knows how to draw lessons from that failed campaign. “To me, this is not pressure, it’s motivation,” said Martinez. “I know what it means to beat a guy like this and what it could mean to my country and my career. I live for these challenges. I wake up every morning thinking about glory. I don’t care about all the sacrifices. All I want is to leave my name in history and for people to remember these fights forever.” The question of whether there is a tango to be written about his heroic feats remains to be seen, but Martinez is fully invested in taking the leading role in the tango to be danced on November 22 – and in the idea of leaving no stone unturned in his search for glory. And he knows that the dream of returning to his own neighborhood to spend the rest of his life as the local hero can only be sealed with a huge win against Rodriguez. What will come next, he hopes, is a moment he has dreamed about all his life, of defending his belt at La Bombonera, the field of dreams of “half the country plus one,” as the soccer-crazy Boca fans love to identify themselves. “It is a dream that can definitely happen,” said Martinez. “I am going to give the people of La Boca this moment of happiness. It will be a dream come true for me and my family. I want that fight, but I want all the other titles, too, and I am sure I will get them.”
Pascual Perez Olympic gold medalist in 1948, world champion in 1954, unbeaten for the first six years of his pro career, in which he made nine succcessful defenses of his flyweight championship. At no taller than five feet, the diminutive Perez had it all, and only the absence of weight classes below flyweight prevented him from being a multi-division champ. A true ring genius who left quite a high bar for those who followed. Carlos Monzon After three early losses in his learning years, Monzon crushed his foes to remain unbeaten for the remaining 13 years of his legendary career, a stretch of 80 fights that included back-to-back wins against fellow all-time greats Nino Benvenuti and Emile Griffith and setting a title defense record at middleweight. He shared The Ring’s Fighter of the Year award with Muhammad Ali in 1972. Nicolino Locche “The Untouchable” was a defensive wizard who loved frustrating his foes to the point of exasperation with his punch-slipping ability and his soft (14 KOs in 136 fights, one of the lowest ratios in history) but very effective counterpunching skills. Even today, Locche, who held the Ring junior welterweight championship from 1968 to 1972, remains one of Argentina’s most beloved boxers of all time.
Does “Puma” have what it takes to rank among Argentina’s greats?
Victor Galindez “The Leopard” was a broad-shouldered light heavyweight powerhouse who ruled the division in the 1970s. In his most memorable fight, he survived a 15-round clash against Richie Kates with blood pouring from a cut on his eyebrow to score an epic last-minute stoppage that remains Argentina’s most memorable ring moment ever.
Unrivaled experience came with two triumphs over Ioka.
present. Everything I do is for him, for my mom and for my family. All I want is for them to do well, and that’s what keeps me fighting.” La Boca, of course, is also the birthplace of tango music, a style born out of a dozen different influences from all over the world. It is said there is a tango lyric for every moment in life, and Martinez’s life story is eerily told in a tango that seems to describe his upbringing even though it was written decades before his birth: “I was born in a conventillo in Olavarría Street/lulled to sleep by the harmony/of a symphony
of knives.” Far from attempting to escape the dangers of life in the hood, Martinez embraces it as part of his heritage and also as an essential trait of his fighting style, the same style that he hopes will carry him to an epic victory worthy of being mentioned among the greatest ones of his country. “I know I can achieve what Pascual Perez, Accavallo and Locche [did],” said Martinez, always obsessed with the idea of carving his own likeness onto the face of the Argentine Mount Rushmore of boxing. “There will be a new unified champion, Puma Martinez,
on November 22.” In the daunting task of taking on a pound-for-pound talent, Martinez finds inspiration not only in his father, but also in his manager/promoter. Martinez’s career is handled by countryman and former junior welterweight titlist Marcos “Chino” Maidana, himself a veteran of not one but two high-profile bouts against a
Sergio Martinez A crafty middleweight southpaw with
matinee-idol looks, Martinez built his career in Europe before holding titles at 154 and 160 (where he was Ring champion) while climbing all the way to the Top 3 in the pound-for- pound ratings, right behind Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao.
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