Sergio Martinez TO HOST BOXING REALITY SERIES IN MEXICO

by The Ring


RING middleweight champion Sergio Martinez has begun filming to play host to a reality boxing series out of Mexico that will produce a contender for the WBC's 122-pound crown, according to Martinez's adviser, Sampson Lewkowicz, who will be the tournament's matchmaker.

"The series is called, The Challenge of the Champions, and there will be a press release coming out on it, and Sergio will be the host of the show, which will last about six weeks," said Lewkowicz.

"There will be 16 fighters in the tournament fighting in the 122-pound weight class based in Mexico City," said Lewkowicz. "The winner will fight for a world title for the WBC. It will have fighters competing from all over the world. Thailand, the Philippines, all over. And I am the matchmaker of the show."

The WBC's present super bantamweight king is Toshiaki Nishioka (38-4-3, 24 KOs), whose 15 fight winning streak includes 10 knockouts.

The 36-year-old Martinez (47-2-2, 26 KOs) and Lewkowicz will be in New York on Wednesday promoting Martinez's Oct. 1, HBO televised, middleweight title defense against Darren Barker (23-0, 14 KOs) that is slated for Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall.

Martinez is coming off of an eighth-round knockout victory over previously unbeaten southpaw WBO 154-pound titleholder Sergiy Dzinziruk (37-1, 23 KOs) in March that was contested at the Foxwoods Resort, Mashantucket, Conn.

Prior to facing Dzinziruk, Martinez had scored November's second-round stoppage of two-time welterweight beltholder Paul Williams (40-2, 27 KOs) that avenged a disputed, December of 2009 majority decision loss during which both fighters were floored in the first round.

In between the bouts against Williams, Martinez scored an April, 2010 unanimous decision that dethroned middleweight champ Kelly Pavlik (37-2, 32 KOs), holder of the RING and WBC 160-pound titles.

Named Fighter of the Year for 2010 by THE RING and the Boxing Writers Association of America, Martinez's WBC title-holder status, however, was changed for commencing with his bout against Dzinziruk instead of facing German middleweight Sebastian Zbik (30-1, 10 KOs), the WBC “interim” beltholder who was elevated to the status of WBC “champion.”

Last month, 25-year-old Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (43-0-1, 30 KOs) dethroned Zbik by unanimous decision. Chavez has a voluntary defense of his belt, likely on Sept. 24, but then must defend his belt against Martinez by March of 2012, in accordance with WBC organization rules.

Posted in: boxing in Mexico