Former two-division world champion Sergio “Maravilla” Martínez reveals what changed in his head, and his heart, with respect to his decision to return to boxing and, at 47-years-old, seek a new world title opportunity.

“My return to boxing gave me a distinct air in my life, a wonderful push, and not only in the athletic aspect," Martinez told Izquierdazo. "The athletic aspect is the least important. What my return brought to my life is great. To compete again, organize a boxing fight, looking for opponents. All those things are wonderful. I believe that is a second wind, a real gift for my life, and I’m making the most of it”.

In August 2020, Martinez put an end to six years of retirement, and then at 45-years-old, commenced his new campaign in boxing. After winning five fights, he is now ranked as third in the middleweight class by the WBA, and could receive his world title opportunity in 2023.

Martinez explains that he sees boxing in a whole different way in this new phase of his career.

“In my head, the most important change is that I made peace with boxing”, Martinez said. “I have rediscovered my love for the sport, that passion that I used to feel. In the past, everything I did was for my love of competition. I wanted more titles, more belts, more championships. I wanted more and more. I was in a brutal inertia in my 20 years of career. I had moments of wild work and training, it was impossible to stop. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t stop”.

Now everything is done with more patience, detail and with great care, according to Martinez.

“Now, I work thoroughly with conscience”, said Martinez.

“I understand what I need. And I need to work professionally, but finding my focus and not deviating from it. That is the commitment with my objective. By being committed with what I’m doing, I can enjoy everything around me. Now I can enjoy, see who is at my side, and know the people around me. In the past, I couldn’t see anything, because I was living like a Formula 1 car, at 200 miles per hour, and everything happened too fast, as a blur. But not anymore, now I take my time for everything. Everything is done with more attention to details and it works better for me”.