Lester Martinez may be downsizing from a super-fight crowd at an NFL stadium to less than 5,000 in San Bernardino March 21, but the enthusiastic super-middleweight couldn't care less.
“We’re getting closer to achieving that blessed title,” Martinez, 19-0-1 (16 KOs), said on Monday’s edition of ProBoxTV’s BoxingScene Today.
Guatemala’s Martinez, 30, will fight for the WBC interim 168lbs belt versus ranked contender Immanuwel Aleem, 22-3-3 (14 KOs), at the National Orange Show Convention Center, where Martinez knocked out Joeshon James in the fourth round last year.
This time, he returns from the high of his breakout performance, the WBC fight-of-the-year showing versus Canada’s unbeaten Christian Mbilli at Allegiant Stadium. Atop that bill, Terence Crawford defeated Canelo Alvarez to capture the undisputed super-middleweight championship.
The draw launched Mbilli toward an expected September title shot in Saudi Arabia at Mexico’s Alvarez following the December retirement of Crawford.
The massive difference in scale doesn’t appear to concern Martinez, who might become the first Guatemalan to win a major belt before a crowd expected to be overloaded by his countrymen in the Inland Empire portion of Southern California.
“The tickets have absolutely taken off,” said Martinez, who has also scheduled a meeting with a group of his countrymen during fight week. “It feels like a championship fight to me.”
Martinez will be positioned in victory to fight the Alvarez-Mbilli winner.
His trainer, Brian “Bomac” McIntyre, came on the show to make two bold pronouncements, saying first that “we should’ve won” the Mbilli fight had Mbilli’s side not backed off from the original push to make that interim title fight a 12-round bout.
“We would’ve stopped him in the next six minutes,” McIntyre said.
He said Mbilli’s disinterest to make the rematch before Crawford announced his retirement was telling.
“They slithered their way out of it,” McIntyre said. “Now, you’re on the run.”
But if Mbilli upsets Alvarez, “now, you’re gonna have to [fight] or get up off the pot for the title.”
If Alvarez wins, McIntyre, Crawford’s longtime trainer, said, “I personally think [Martinez] can beat Canelo. We’ve got the blueprint, right?”
Martinez was Crawford’s lead sparring partner for Alvarez.
“It was great work. ‘Bud’ [Crawford] shifted up his styles and Lester pushed Terence to the level he wanted to go to win the fight.”
Monday’s BoxingScene Today marked the debut of the show’s new three-hour-long format, which will feature more interviews from events and guests.
Trainer and BoxingScene columnist Stephen “Breadman” Edwards joined to talk about the potential for a welterweight unification fight between WBA champion Rolly Romero and WBO champion Devin Haney, and analysts/world champions Chris Algieri and Paulie Malignaggi discussed weekend news.
