Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer 10y

Martinez close to decision on future

LAS VEGAS -- Former middleweight champion Sergio Martinez is in town and at the MGM Grand to enjoy the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Marcos Maidana rematch Saturday night before heading off to take care of serious business.

Martinez will fly to New York to pay a visit to Dr. Answorth Allen, the orthopedic surgeon for the New York Knicks, to have his right leg examined Tuesday.

Martinez's knee has been a problem since he injured it in a win against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in September 2012 and had surgery. He reinjured it in his next fight, a win against Martin Murray in April 2013. Martinez returned too quickly from surgery and was out of the ring for 14 months before facing Miguel Cotto in June and getting knocked out in the 10th round after being knocked down four times.

Although Martinez did not blame the knee for the defeat, it was clear that he was not 100 percent physically. Martinez, who turns 40 in February, said he wants to continue his career but would wait to hear what the doctor said about the condition of his knee.

"The first thing I want to hear from the doctor is that my leg is going to be good enough that I can live a normal life and that I can have a normal leg like a normal person," Martinez said Friday through translator Nathan Lewkowicz, the son of Martinez adviser Sampson Lewkowicz. "I still have some pain I feel in my right leg. But if the doctor says I'm 100 percent, or I will be 100 percent, then I will continue. If he doesn't say that then I won't fight anymore. I don't need to fight because my health is very important to me."

Martinez (51-3-2, 28 KOs) made an announcement during the summer that he planned to continue fighting, but he knew he had to see the doctor first.

"When I said I wanted to return to fight, I don't know if it was me saying it or my ego," Martinez said. "That's why I'm going to let someone who knows what they're talking about, like the doctor, make that decision for me."

Martinez still clearly has the fighting spirit that made him a great champion during his 2010-14 reign that covered six successful defenses against quality opposition and garnered him 2010 fighter of the year honors and the author of the 2010 knockout of the year (in his rematch with Paul Williams).

"I have 20 years of boxing, [almost] 40 years of age. I know what my body can do and what it can't do," Martinez said. "I want to fight the best, and I want to be the best, but I understand I am [almost] 40 and that I can't beat the same people I could beat when I was [younger]. It's very difficult to fight with your own ego. But it was [my] own ego that brought me to the level I was in boxing. Without my ego, I couldn't have been a world champion."

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