Sergio Martinez, the Best Middleweight in the World, Returns Saturday on HBO

Sergio Martinez, the best middleweight in the world and the 2010 Fighter of the Year, returns to the ring only on HBO World Championship Boxing to face undefeated Londoner Darren Barker at the Boardwalk Casino in Atlantic City Saturday, October 1st at 10:00PM ET/ 7:00PM PT on HBO.

Martinez a native of Buenos Aires who now lives in Oxnard, California is on the top half of most pound for pound rankings list. Most noteworthy was his huge second round KO over Paul Williams that not only made him one of the top ranked pound for pound fighters in the world, but also one of the most feared and avoided fighters as well.

Martinez has Hollywood movie star good looks and is always exciting to watch in the ring. However, limitations such as him not being able to speak English and all the big names around his weight class blatantly dodging him have been preventing him from achieving major breakthrough success so far.

Barker (23-0, 14 KOs) who will fight for the first time on American soil, does not pose much of a threat to the middleweight king. However, with no big names willing to fight Martinez, he is at least staying sharp, taking on prime undefeated opposition.

Also that night will be Andy Lee rematching Brian Vera, his only loss of his career. Lee has had a run of impressive wins since his loss to Vera in 2008 where many considered it to be a controversial stoppage.

Vera is fresh off of a big win over former 154 lb WBC champion Sergio Mora.

Outside of the hardcore boxing fans, word is the Martinez/Barker fight is not selling well in Atlantic City.

My personal opinion is Martinez should either rematch Paul Williams for a trilogy, or avenge his other loss to Antonio Margarito should he get past Miguel Cotto or even rematch Kermit Cintron, whom many saw as a controversial draw. Should he not be able to land any of these rematches, then he must go up in weight and take on some big names at 168 or get the big names from 154 to meet him at a catch-weight.

Handing either Canelo or Chavez Jr. their first loss would sky rocket his career and probably make him a household name over night.

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