Martinez wins middleweight crown, Bute retains IBF title

In HBO’s double header Lucian Bute retained his IBF super middleweight title with a 3rd round stoppage of Edison Miranda in Montreal whilst Sergio Martinez took Kelly Pavlik’s WBC/WBO middleweight titles after getting off the canvas.

Miranda taunted Bute daring him to hit him but Bute needed no encouragement and landed a left hook and eventually knocked Miranda down with an uppercut that caused the Colombian to fall face forward. Miranda beat the count but was in no shape to continue forcing referee Ernie Sharif called the fight off.

Following this down in Atlantic City Sergio Martinez worked hard to win Kelly Pavlik’s middleweight crown.

Using speed and footwork he frustrated Pavlik early on but Pavlik began to figure his opponents out in the middle rounds and even scored a dubious knock down in the 7th round (Martinez claimed he was off balance) but a strong finish from Martinez ensured he would not be on the wrong end of a decision in the United States again following questionable decisions against Kermit Cintron and Paul Williams.

At the end of the fight Martinez raced away to celebrate whilst a forlorn and bloodied Pavlik raised his hand but the judges score cards of 116-111, 115-111 and 115-112 in favour of the Argentine quickly cleared up any confusion.

Full fight reports to come…

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