Pablo Sarmiento not interested in a Ward/Martinez bout at 168; Wants Martinez to move down to 154

If you boxing fans were banking on a dream fight between super middleweight kingpin Andre Ward and Sergio Martinez, keep dreaming. Pablo Sarmiento, the trainer of Martinez tells our Marcos Villegas that they are not interested in the bout at 168lbs, “Now everyone wants to fight Sergio. Sergio is not moving up in weight anymore. If he wants to fight him, he needs to move down.”

When asked even if a catch-weight of 164 pounds was possible for a bout between the two champions, Sarmiento stood firm on the team’s plans of moving down, “No, no, no Sergio is not moving up. On the contrary he is going to move down to 154.” The junior middleweight division is a place Martinez is familiar with though he was never officially champion in the weight class; he held the interim WBC light middleweight title by defeating Kermit Cintron. The full version of the belt is being held by Saul Alvarez, a opponent Sarimento would like Sergio to face and of course there is Miguel Cotto. Martinez has been asking for a Cotto bout since last year, when he went on the spanish TV show Golpe a Golpe and asked Cotto for a match up. If we end up seeing Martinez with either of the mentioned fighters, it is a win/win for boxing fans, as both bouts would be devilishly close.