By Osiris Mendez Cruz
Former champion Antonio Margarito, who recently retired from boxing, is still the last man to stop Sergio Martinez inside the distance. Back in February of 2000 in Las Vegas, Margarito stopped an unbeaten Martinez in the seventh round of a welterweight fight. On September 15th, Martinez (49-2-2, 28KOs) will challenge Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (46-0-1, 32KOs) for the WBC middleweight crown at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
Margarito doesn't deny the vast improvement of Martinez and respects him as a tough challenger, but he also back his countryman, Chavez, to win the fight.
"Julio is very intelligent and he's been growing as a fighter, and demonstrated that against quality opponents. The advice that I would give to [Julio] is to press Martinez at all times, throw a lot of punches from all angles, cut off the ring and use his youth," Margarito said.
"Martinez will want to use his boxing and Julio should be the fighter who comes forward, pressing hard and I'm sure the knockout will happen in his favor. Martinez has a lot of speed, he knows how to move and has a pretty strong left hand - those are his strengths. In addition, he controls his opponents with his way of boxing, fighting at a distance and moving at all times - but Julio is very active and if he hurts [Matrinez], I'm sure that he will go on to knock him out."
