Martinez and his promoter know fights will be hard to find

When you leave someone like Paul Williams face first on the mat and you're still a relative no-name to casual fights fans, the big stars - Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather - aren't likely to line up for the next shot. Sergio Martinez's devastating knockout should vault him to stardom, but without a mega-fight on the horizon that's going to be tough.

"I ain't trippin'. I don't think either one of those guys watched this fight and said, 'I want to fight Sergio Martinez.' I guarantee you that didn't happen," said Martinez's promoter Lou DiBella. 

DiBella said a fight with "Pac-Man" isn't worth talking about because he's too small for Martinez, a legitimate middleweight, who walks around at 180 pounds between fights.

He thinks there's a shot at a Mayweather fight, but "Money" hasn't been too keen on fighting the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter. What makes anyone think he'll jump at fighting the possible No. 3? Plus a 35-year-old Argentinian, who's only been fighting in the states since late 2007, is reaching for the stars if he expects to corral a Mayweather fight.

"I got the best fighter in the world," DiBella said. "(but) you can't chase Mayweather and Pacquiao. They're going to fight whoever they want to fight. They're the guys generating the big money."

Martinez (46-2-2, 25 KOs) has already stated that he plans to fight just three more times or for two years, whichever comes first.

 

With an accelerated schedule like this, who should he fight?

 

The most logical choice seems like former middleweight king Arthur Abraham, but the Armenian-German has been unwilling to fight in the U.S. Felix Sturm is probably of little interest to a network like HBO. It sounds like Martinez's only option for a big fight will come if he calls out a super middleweight and works towards a catch-weight bout. The problem there is, guys like Andre Ward and Carl Froch are locked into the Super Six until the middle of 2011. 

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