At-home Martinez worth backing to stop Murray in latter rounds

Given that Sergio Martinez beat Lionel Messi to the Argentina sportsman of the year award last year, it is clear how highly regarded he is in his homeland.

So, the pressure will be colossal when he fights at home for the first time since 2002 when defending his WBC middleweight title against Martin Murray in Buenos Aires.

It is 1/6 that Martinez makes a sixth successful title defence and ends the undefeated record of Brit Murray, who is accepting a big jump in class to have this title shot.

Martinez is determined not to let down his fellow countrymen and women and is not only especially sure that he will triumph, but convinced he will do so by KO.

In terms of a prediction, the 38-year-old has suggested that he will secure a victory in the eighth round and punters backing this exact result can get odds of 11/1.

However, with four of his last five victories ending by KO between the eighth round and the final bell, the wiser betting option may prove the 9/4 that Martinez secures his success between rounds 7-12.

The one anomaly to Martinez’ recent KO run was in his last fight when gaining a unanimous points victory over Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.

It was discovered after that Martinez had broken his left hand and torn his meniscus, which later required knee surgery, and so it is understandable why another KO victory may have been beyond him.

Murray is 4/1 to beat Martinez and the fight is 33/1 to end in a draw.

Although draws are rare in boxing, it should be remembered that this was the outcome when Murray fought in the backyard of Felix Sturm in Germany in his only previous world title fight back in 2011.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.