Although RING middleweight champion Sergio Martinez acknowledges that Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.’s youth, size and power will make for a difficult fight on Sept. 15 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, the dynamic southpaw also believes that Chavez’s straight-ahead style will be the 26-year-old WBC beltholder’s undoing.

Martinez (49-2-2, 28 knockouts), who is 37, also dismissed the assertions of Julio Cesar Chavez Sr., who celebrated his 50th birthday by criticizing Martinez as “a runner” whose style “stinks.”

“We know that Martinez is considered one of the best fighters now. But personally, I don’t like his style,”  said Chavez Sr., a former three-division champion who was 89-0-1 before losing his first bout and compiled an overall career mark of 107-6-2, with 86 knockouts.

“He’s a runner. He stinks. He puts his hands down by his side. Personally, he’s been talking a lot of bulls__t. On Sept. 15th, all that bulls__t he’s been talking, he’s going to have to eat it.”

Chavez Sr. made his comments during a press conference on Thursday in New York, the third and final stop in a three-city promotional tour touting the HBO-Pay Per View-televised clash that will be contested on Mexican Independence Day weekend.

Chavez Jr. (46-0-1, 32 KOs) also took shots at Martinez, particularly for the fighter’s appearances on Argentina’s version of Dancing With The Stars.

“Martinez has been doing a lot of dancing. That’s the only way that he can beat me is dancing. I think he’s found his real profession as a ballerina,” said Chavez Jr.

“That’s good enough for me. I have always been a good person. I wish him the best and I’m happy that he has found his real profession as a ballerina, because after Sept. 15th, he is going to have to find something else to do.”

Chavez Jr. did look impressive in his most recent fight, last month’s seventh-round knockout victory over southpaw challenger Andy Lee (28-1, 20 KOs).

“My punches had no effect on him. I couldn’t hold him off. He was too big, too strong,” said Lee, who had won his past 13 fights, eight of them by knockout. “A lot of punches I threw in there could have hurt a lot of people but he just walked through them.”

In six straight wins under five-time Trainer of the Year Freddie Roach, Chavez has beaten previously undefeated  Sebastian Zbik for his current belt, scored a fifth-round knockout over Peter Manfredo Jr., and dominated hard-hitting Marco Antonio Rubio for a unanimous decision.

But in the quest of his sixth straight win, and his fifth consecutive knockout during that run, Martinez has vowed to brutalize Chavez Jr. in the similar fashion that he has his past five opponents.

Former undisputed middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik, former two-time welterweight titleholder Paul Williams and top contender Matthew Macklin were all left with badly bleeding faces after having lost to the Argentine.

Previously unbeaten Darren Barker suffered a perforated eardrum during an 11th-round stoppage loss to Martinez, and previously unbeaten Sergei Dzinziruk was dropped five times during an eighth-round knockout loss.

Martinez expressed his thoughts on his upcoming bout with Chavez in this Q&A.

RingTV.com: What are your thoughts about Chavez Sr.’s criticisms of your style and his assertion that you have been talking bulls__t?

Sergio Martinez: At this moment, I can’t say much because everybody is talking bulls__t. So I don’t feel bad about it.

I didn’t get upset for what Chavez Sr. said because I have respect for him. But I was upset at what Fernando Beltran said.

RingTV.com: What did Fernando say?

SM: The co-promoter, Fernando Beltran, he called me an a__hole. It’s one thing for a fighter to say it. That’s okay. But that sort stuff should stay between the fighters, not the promoters and the fighters.

RingTV.com: Do you believe that these comments are meant to get you out of your frustrated, angry and to cause you to lose your composure and game plan?

SM: Yes, but for me, everything is just motivation for me. Everything that happens is just getting me more focused.

 RingTV.com: What is your response to the notion that perhaps Chavez Jr.’s camp believes that they are catching you at the right time?

SM: It doesn’t matter what he thinks. On September 15, Chavez Jr. will see whether or not I have aged.

RingTV.com: Were you impressed with the way Chavez Jr. walked through Lee?

SM: If he comes to prove that he’s the stronger man against me and if he wants to try to prove his power against me, then I welcome that. That will make it a much easier fight for me than if he tries to move around the ring.

RingTV.com: Do you think that Chavez Jr. has adequate boxing skills or that he has no choice but to come forward?

SM: I don’t think so. My strategy will be as it was in my past five fights, which is to box him for the first four or five rounds.

RingTV.com: Why did you agree to taking 40 percent to Chavez Jr.’s 60 percent of the purse for this fight?

SM: That’s correct. I didn’t care about the money. I’m a special fighter. I’m fighting for the glory. I can tell you that I never asked how much I could make.

I’m showing my loyalty to the WBC and I want my title back. I never asked how much I could make for this fight. I know that it’s the fight for the title.

RingTV.com: Do you have a vision of how the fight is going to go, a prediction and do you believe that you can inflict as much punishment on Chavez Jr. as you have on your past five opponents?

SM: First of all, this will be a very difficult fight and I have no doubts about that because Chavez Jr. is young and he is strong and he is determined.

I think that Chavez Jr. will be extremely motivated by the Mexican public, which will be very supportive of him, so it will be very difficult.

But in the end, Chavez Jr. will look the same way as my last few opponents. I will really punish him and by the 10th or the 11th round, I will knock him out.

Photo by Ed Diller, Top Rank/DiBella Entertainment

Photo by Chris Farina, Top Rank

Photo by Ed Diller, Top Rank/DiBella Entertainment

Photo by Chris Farina, Top Rank

Lem Satterfield can be reached at [email protected]