Boxing: Mayweather has Martinez as backup

LAS VEGAS: WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather is keeping Sergio Martinez as a back-up option if he is unable to secure a bout with Manny Pacquiao, according to Martinez’s promoter. Mayweather and Pacquiao’s promoters have indicated that negotiations for a clash in May are underway, but talks could break down given the bad blood that exists between the two camps. WBC Diamond middleweight champion Martinez has been tipped to face Matthew Macklin in early 2012, but the prospect of facing the unbeaten Mayweather would be hard to resist if a concrete offer was put forth.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 20^th, 2011.