It would be an understatement to say Kiko Martinez’s opponents often feel uncomfortable in the ring. More accurate is that they find themselves within a pressure cooker, that being the environment the charging, relentless Spaniard cooks up from the opening bell. And on the night of December 21st, 2013, that bullish style paid its way, defending Martinez’s IBF Junior Featherweight title.
The 9th round KO of South Africa’s Jeffrey Mathebula, in Elche, Spain, became Martinez’s third consecutive stoppage. No pushover, coming into the fight Mathebula was a former IBF titlist who had gone the distance with ‘Filipino Flash’ Nonito Donaire. Though losing a Unanimous Decision last year, Mathebula had made an impressive comeback in beating Takalani Ndlovu.
But in Spain, it was all Martinez from start to finish. This was one-way traffic. And to Mathebula’s credit, the South African challenger showed great heart in staying on his feet as long as he did.
Martinez’s strength, power, and high-volume power shots controlled Mathebula in every way possible. The South African clearly respected the shorter man’s power – possibly too much – and found himself constantly retreating and trailing along the ropes. He may have stood at 5′ 11″ compared to Martinez’s 5′ 3″, but his superior reach and ‘long fight’ became neutralized quickly.
With most of his offense taken away, Mathebula took a pounding, with Martinez’s overhand-right hooks doing particular damage. Every punch contained bad intentions. The Martinez left hook to the body and uppercut also found their target repeatedly when Mathebula tried to use low lateral movement to avoid upstairs attacks.
In the 4th round, an overwhelmed Mathebula touched down twice briefly with his gloves, though the referee didn’t recognize them as knockdowns. With Martinez’s rhythm unlikely to fade, it seemed impossible for Mathebula to finish the fight anywhere else than on the canvas.
The end came at 2:05 of the 9th, after Martinez unleashed another onslaught which wobbled Mathebula. Following a hard uppercut, a cornered Mathebula finally dropped to his knees. And it was there that he remained until the count of ten, barely physically able to continue, but certainly too mentally broken to.
Post fight, Martinez has since revealed his first intention for 2014: to settle an old score by challenging Northern Ireland’s fighting pride, Carl Frampton.
And for good reason. Frampton is the only man to not only have found a way to stave off Martinez’s attack, but to stop him emphatically in the 9th round. Given the competitiveness of their encounter in February, a salivating Frampton vs Martinez II would without doubt capture fight fans’ attention the world over.
Failing this, Martinez expressed two other options – none the easier foe by any stretch. First, there’s England’s WBA titlist, banger-boxer Scott Quigg. Then there’s Cuba’s WBO, WBA, Ring titlist, the boxing-tactician sensation that is Guillermo Rigondeaux. After that night’s pulverizing beat down of Mathebula, a fight with one of these elites would make for an enthralling matchup in the year ahead.
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