MARTINEZ vs. WILLIAMS II
New York, NY – On Saturday, November 20, at Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall, reigning World Boxing Council (WBC) middleweight champion Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez will defend his title against Paul “The Punisher” Williams in a rematch of their December 5, 2009 slugfest which had both fighters knocked down in round one and Williams winning by majority decision after twelve back-and-forth rounds.
Goossen Tutor Promotions and DiBella Entertainment in association with Caesars Atlantic City are presenting this evening of boxing Martinez vs. Williams II will be broadcast on HBO’s World Championship Boxing beginning at 10:00 PM ET/7:00 PM PT.
Tickets, priced at $400, $200, $100 and $50, can be purchased this Friday, September 24 at the Boardwalk Hall box office, or by calling Ticketmaster at (800) 736-1420 or online at ticketmaster.com.
In their initial clash, a “Fight of the Year” candidate, Williams knocked Martinez down early in the first round with an overhand right and Martinez returned the favor as the round was coming to a close, sending Williams to the canvas with a right hook to the temple. Both fighters seemed to be enjoying the hostilities throughout the fight and just as one looked hurt the other would come back with a vengeance inflicting his own punishment. In the end, Williams won on two scorecards (119-110, 115-113) and drew on the third (114-114) for a majority decision win, leaving all in the arena and watching on HBO clamoring for a rematch.
In their ensuing matches, Martinez defeated then middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik to win the WBC and World Boxing Organization (WBO) titles by unanimous decision on April 17, 2010. The fight went into round 9 with Pavlik having a slight edge when the tide turned. Martinez peppered the champion with lefts, opening a cut under Pavlik’s right eye, clearly changing the momentum in Martinez’ favor. The champion was unable to fend off the surging challenger and Martinez won handily on all judges’ cards. In one of the most bizarre endings in boxing, Williams defeated Kermit Cintron on May 8 when Cintron went through the ropes in round four following an exchange of blows. The ringside doctors declared Cintron was unable to continue after receiving no response from him on whether he could, sending the result to the scorecards, which had Williams winning.
Williams (39-1, 27 KO), born in Aiken, SC, living in Augusta, GA, and training in Washington, DC, started his World Championship rein in 2007 by defeating Antonio Margarito for his Welterweight Championship. Unable to find willing challengers at welterweight, Williams moved to super welterweight and beat world champion Verno Phillips (who was forced to give up the IBF title before the bout). Once again saddled without a line of waiting challengers, Williams moved up to middleweight, two divisions above his natuaral weight of 147 lbs., to challenge two-time world champion Ronald “Winky” Wright. Williams thoroughly defeated Wright to establish himself as a modern day Henry Armstrong, willing to take on the toughest challenges in any weight-class. The two-time world champion had planned to battle WBC/WBO middleweight world champion Kelly Pavlik next, but unfortunately for Williams those bouts were cancelled, twice, when Pavlik pulled out of each one. Enter then WBC Super Welterweight Champion Sergio Martinez.
Martinez (45-2-2, 24 KO), a 35-year old, 5-11 southpaw from Madrid, Spain via Quilmes, Buenos Aires, Argentina and a 13-year pro, whose only blemish prior to the Williams loss, came at the hands of Antonio Margarito almost eleven years ago. He had since won his next 28 fights, culminated by an eighth-round stoppage of Alex Bunema to claim the Interim WBC Light Middleweight title in October 4, 2008. In his first, and only defense since moving to middleweight, Martinez retained the title against former world champion Kermit Cintron in a majority draw when at one point Cintron was knocked down and counted out only to be able to continue in a mystifying turn of events.
November 20, 2010 at Boardwalk Hall, the fans will be treated to one of the most hotly anticipated rematches in boxing when the two most feared fighters in the world today square off with one-another in what is sure to be another candidate for “Fight of the Year.”
