By Ian S Palmer
Roman “Rocky” Martinez of Puerto Rico will be attempting to defend his WBO Junior Lightweight Title this Saturday, November 9 when he takes on undefeated Miguel Angel “Mikey” Garcia of Ventura, California in Corpus Christi, Texas. The 12-round bout will be aired live by HBO in North America.
The 30-year-old Martinez will enter the ring with an impressive 27-1-2 record along with 16 Kos. The only man to beat him up to now has been lightweight Ricky Burns of Scotland who turned the trick in September 2010 via a unanimous decision. He’s won three and drawn one since then with the wins coming over Miguel Beltran, Diego Magdaleno, and Daniel Attah and the draw against Juan Carlos Burgos.
The 25-year-old Garcia has a perfect record of 32-0 along with 27 Kos to his name and is regarded by many as one of the best pound-for-pound boxers on the planet. He’s an extremely hard hitter and carries an 84 per cent knockout ratio around with him. Garcia will be trying to win his second world title in as many divisions as he’s a former world featherweight titleholder.
Garcia is the better overall boxer with greater hand speed, defense and power. However, Martinez has the edge when it comes to volume of punches as he throws more leather than the challenger and is a little more aggressive, but he’s not as accurate with his shots. They both have solid chins and this could be a key component of the fight for Martinez as it’s going to be interesting to see how he holds up to Garcia’s power shots.
Martinez’s punch output will also be a key, but he needs to make sure he doesn’t leave himself too open and enters a slugfest. The champion would be wise to establish his jab from the outset and use his footwork to stay out of harm’s way. Martinez has a couple of inches in height on Garcia, but Garcia has an inch reach on the champion, so distance will be important as well.
Nobody has managed to beat Garcia yet because he seems to be the perfect package as a boxer. He’s stopped nine of his last 10 opponents and he’s hard to hit, making it extremely difficult to even win rounds against him. As long as he doesn’t allow Martinez to dictate the pace then he should be in good position to extend his undefeated streak.
Martinez has a lot of experience, is active in the ring and has decent power. He’s more dangerous when he fights on the inside, but he’s up against an opponent who’s younger, faster, better defensively and has more power. He needs to have a good game plan in place and move in and out behind the jab rather than getting into a brawl. He’ll need to land combinations and get out of range. However, this isn’t the way he fights normally as he’d rather slug it out. He might gain confidence if he lands early in the bout, but look for Garcia to take his title with a stoppage during the second half of an exciting contest.
