Sergio Martinez looking for new opponent as Joe Greene pulls out with Kidney Stones

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, WBC “Interim” Super Welterweight champion, Sergio Martinez will have to fight someone other then “Mean” Joe Greene after Greene had to with drawl from the January 17 bout with Kidney Stones.

Greene (20-0, 14 KOs), 22, who had been training in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains, began urinating blood over the weekend and visited the doctor, who advised him not to fight, even though Greene was feeling up to it.

Martinez (44-1-1, 24 KOs), who is from Argentina but lives in Spain, made a splash on Oct. 4 in his HBO debut when he blistered Alex Bunema, stopping him in the eighth round to claim the vacant interim belt and become the mandatory challenger for titleholder Vernon Forrest.

Martinez will still fight on January 17th in Biloxi, Mississippi but against whom is still to be decided.

The HBO-televised bout has promoter Lou DiBella scrambling to find a suitable replacement.

According to the report three fighters are on the short-list.

Their first choice was titleholder Daniel Santos, whose promoter, Don King, agreed to a deal for a fight that would have been a nontitle bout over the 154-pound division limit. However, Santos turned the fight down, feeling he wouldn’t have enough time to be ready on 10 days’ notice, DiBella said.

The two other names in play are Philadelphia’s Anthony Thompson (23-3, 17 KOs) and former titleholder Travis Simms (26-1, 19 KOs).