New York, NY – (1/13/2012) – Middleweight Champion Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez wrapped up his NYC trip on Thursday and headed back to his training camp in Oxnard, California, to begin the preparations for his middleweight title defense against Ireland’s Matthew Macklin at Madison Square Garden, on St. Patrick’s Day (March 17), live on HBO’s “World Championship Boxing”.

It was a busy few days for Martinez, the number three pound-for-pound fighter in the world. In addition to taking part in the initial press conference to announce his championship fight against Macklin, Martinez spent time at the offices of HBO, participating in a lengthy interview and photo shoot to help promote the upcoming event. Martinez also made time to meet with New York City Council Member Julissa Ferreras, Chair of the Committee on Women’s Issues, as well as representatives from anti-domestic violence organizations, such Forestdale, CONNECT, Violence Intervention Program, Seamen’s Society for Children and Families and inMotion.

It wasn’t all business for Martinez though, as he found time to attend a New York Knicks game with promoter Lou DiBella where Martinez met with a number of celebrities in attendance, including Spike Lee. Below are pictures from Martinez’ trip.

The card entitled, “THE REAL Middleweight Championship – Get Your Irish Up”, is promoted by DiBella Entertainment and will be shown live on HBO beginning 10PM ET/7PM PT. Tickets are priced at $505, $355, $205, $125 and $65, and are on sale now. Tickets can be purchased through the Madison Square Garden Box Office or through Ticketmaster, at ticketmaster.com, or by calling (800) 745-3000. Call DiBella Entertainment at (212) 947-2577, or visit www.dbe1.com and @loudibella on Twitter for more information.