NEW YORK – If good things come to those who wait, then Saturday’s WBC junior welterweight title fight between Alberto Puello and Sandor Martin will be entertaining.

The other supporting evidence indicates a tactical battle that may satisfy only the sport’s purists.

Between them, newly crowned Puello, 23-0 (10 KOs), and Martin, 42-3 (15 KOs), have made their way by outmaneuvering and outsmarting their competitors.

Puello, of the Dominican Republic, became a titleholder by virtue of his June split decision victory over Saturday co-main-event fighter Gary Antuanne Russell, while Martin is best known for sending Mikey Garcia into retirement following an upset by decision in 2021, then giving WBO 140lbs belt holder Teofimo Lopez Jnr fits one year later.

“I hope it’s by knockout, but whatever way I have to win. … I have a really good game plan to face Puello, and it’s going to be really well laid out, fighting at my best level,” said Spain’s Martin, 32.

Puello admitted he has a complex opponent to get through.

“It’s all about the work I put in the gym,” Puello said. “I work on the fundamentals there and I perfect them by fight night. I’ll put that work into play.”

When asked if he’ll remain fighting on the back foot, as he did by edging Russell, or step forward against the crafty Martin, Puello said: “If I need to, I’ll be the aggressor. I work on all three levels. I’ll see what Sandor does. I’ll go with the flow of the fight.”

To the casual fan, the Puello-Martin bout might be the equivalent of a concert artist’s unknown slow song that leads to a bathroom break. It’s everything to the fighters, however, as they’ve both spent their careers in search of a title victory.

Martin is further incentivized by the fact that the judges punished him for inactivity in the late rounds after he had knocked down Lopez in the second round of their fight.

“I need to be more aggressive, with this being my opportunity to become a world champion. This is my time to shine. I’m focused,” Martin said.

The WBC named Puello its titlist in late June after Devin Haney vacated the belt following his April no-contest to Ryan Garcia. PBC won the rights to stage the fight, but much time elapsed before the date was set.

The wait is over.

“As far as the pressure of defending the belt, I’m aware of it, but I don’t even think about it,” Puello said. “I focus on fighting. [Martin] has skills and weaknesses, and I’m looking forward to fighting him.”

Martin said he’s not expecting Lopez to ever fight him in a unification, saying a representative of the fighter effectively told one of Martin’s representatives so previously.

In addition to Martin’s difficult style, he said, “It’s hard to fight 10 rounds with a broken nose,” as Martin said Lopez did.

A more realistic option is meeting the WBA title winner between Russell and belt holder Jose “Rayo” Valenzuela.

“Of course [the winners] should [fight]. I’m here to be in the best fights possible,” Martin said. “I’m so excited to see this.”

Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.