Sergio Martinez media conference call quick quotes

NEW YORK, NY / MIAMI FL (5/20/14) – World Boxing Council (WBC)/The Ring middleweight champion and Argentina’s favorite son, SERGIO “Maravilla” MARTÍNEZ, along with promoter Lou DiBella, held an international media conference all earlier today in anticipation of his upcoming world title defense and the most eagerly anticipated boxing event of 2014 against three-division world champion and the Pride of Puerto Rico, MIGUEL COTTO.

Below are a few quick notes from the call. A complete transcript to follow.

SERGIO MARTINEZ: My knee is feeling great and I have been running in the mornings. I haven’t felt this good in a very long time.

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In The Ring With Ahmed “The Egyptian” Elbiali

In the segment In the Ring, boxing writer Bill Barner interviews fighters from inside the ring in an effort to gain more insight into their fighting styles. In May 2014, Barner interviewed Super Middleweight Ahmed “The Egyptian” Elbiali.

Born in Egypt, Elbiali immigrated to the United States at a young age. As an amateur, Elbiali dreamed of being an Olympic fighter, but those dreams were shattered and shelved during the famous Arab Spring.

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Floyd Mayweather will fight September 13th – opponent and venue to be announced

Some people, myself included, felt superstar Floyd Mayweather Junior would perhaps take a pass on his usual September fight due to the tougher than expected (not to mention foul-filled) night’s work “Money” had last time out, when he won a decision over a rough and ready Marcos Maidana. But such thinking has been proven wrong, because Mayweather has officially announced how he will next fight on September 13th – the venue and, more importantly, the opponent, will be announced in two weeks.

Leonard Ellerbe, speaking with ESPN.com last night, said a return meeting with Maidana, (who, along with his fans, claimed he was robbed of a deserved decision earlier this month) is a possibility, but that there is a “long list” of potential opponents according to Floyd‘s right-hand man.

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Is Harold Right? Referees Pay No Attention

HBO’s unofficial scorer, and celebrated long time judge and analyst, Harold Lederman made a valid point this past saturday night during the PPV bout between Viktor Postol (26-0, 11 KO’s) and Selcuk Aydin (26-3, 19 KO’s). During the bout, held at the Forum, Inglewood, CA, Harold made what would seem to be a legitimate, valid point.

He spelled things out, explaining that all too often tall fighters illegally use their extended lead hand as a “range finder”. The situation presented itself saturday night when the taller man, Postol, started using his extended left as a range finder for his power punch, the right. Specifically, he held his extended left out in such a way that it would not only obstruct Aydin’s vision, it would also act as a similar instrument used with a gun for estimating the distance to Aydin’s head. In this case, the projectile was Postol’s power loaded right.

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Tori “Sho Nuff” Nelson Defeats Mia St. John in Ponytail Promotions Debut!

Last night Tori “Sho Nuff” Nelson successfully defended her WIBA welterweight championship against former world champion Mia St. John. The bout was the main event for Ponytail Promotions who held their first card at Northern Virginia Community College.

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Paulie Malignaggi shouldn’t retire just yet

Now that the dust has settled after his recent crushing loss to Shawn Porter, Paulie Malignaggi shouldn’t retire just yet.

Sure, what happened to him on April 19th was shocking to most. Despite not being known for having a right hand, his chin, ring- intelligence, and technical ability have gotten him this far in his career. He’s been in the ring and lost to big punchers before: Miguel Cotto, Amir Khan, Adrien Broner, but none of those fights ended anywhere near as dramatically as it did against Porter.

In the post-fight interview, Paulie hinted at retirement but held back from making such a decision after reeling from a loss. I think his reticence at the time was wise because, after watching the fight, perhaps he shouldn’t retire. It was apparent from the moment both fighters entered the ring that Porter was the stronger and more powerful of the two – however, nothing out of the ordinary. Contrary to what we’ve seen Paulie do in the past, stick a jab and move, he decided to bring it to his opponent not afraid of fighting in close quarters, toe-to-toe.

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Marquez Sizzles and Pops in Win over Alvarado

Forty year old Juan Manuel “Dinamita” Marquez’ (JMM) combinations were sharp and fast. His punches hissed through the air and then crackled when they reached their target. To Mike “Mile High” Alvarado, they must have sounded like the ear popping you hear and feel with a change of altitude.

Early on both men seemed overly cautious, as though they were determined not to provide counter punch opportunities. JMM was first to explore things. He poked and prodded a bit, and when there was no retaliation, he cranked things up a bit. Mike remained in the cautious stage. The problem with that strategy was he was losing rounds, because JMM is not only a great counter puncher, he’s also pretty damn good at leading too. As soon as JMM realized Mike wasn’t going to return his shots, he naturally picked up the pace. Mike kept his gloves up tight in defensive mode, but that wasn’t enough. Mike found out the hard way that there’s too much area to cover when JMM is throwing.

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Boxing Returns to the LA Forum in Style

Juan Manuel Marquez built his career at The Forum in Inglewood, California. From 1995 to 1999 he went 12-0 at the famed venue, making a name for himself among fight fans in the LA area. A decade and a half later “Dinamita” returned as an international star to face the bigger, younger “Mile High” Mike Alvarado. A pro Marquez crowd showed up and nearly blew the roof off The Forum with deafening roars during the fighter introductions. It was an amazing atmosphere for fight fans.

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Marquez defeats Alvarado; Postol stops Aydin

Mike Alvarado (34-3, 23 KO’s) did a brilliant job of showing how not to fight Juan Manuel Marquez (56-7-1, 40 KO’s) in losing a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision at the Forum, in Inglewood, California, USA. Alvarado, 33, decided to box Marquez for 12 rounds instead of using his superior size to try and score a knockout, and it cost Alvarado with him losing by the lopsided scores of 117-109, 117-109 and 119-109.

Alvarado was knocked down by a scorching right hand from Marquez in the 8th. It was the identical shot that Marquez used to knock Manny Pacquiao out cold in the 6th round of their fight in 2012. The different here is that Marquez didn’t have the muscles that he had then.

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Lee Selby, Nathan Cleverly Victorious In Cardiff

San Diego, CA – May 17, 2014 -Lee Selby earned a shot at WBC Featherweight champion Jhonny Gonzalez with a 12-round unanimous decision over Romulo Koasicha in a WBC title elimination bout as well as a WBC International title fight at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff, Wales.

Selby was effective with the volume of punches by just doing a solid job of keeping Koasicha on the receiving end of three and four punch combinations. Koasicha had a few opportunities in round’s five and seven as he got through with some solid left hooks but he was not able to capitalize on his few effective moments. Down the stretch, Selby was not challenged in the least as he boxed and moved well and cruised home to the victory to the tune of 119-109, 119-109 and 119-110.

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