By Ian S Palmer
Undefeated Sammy Vasquez of Monessen, Pennsylvania will be taking on Aron Martinez of Mexico in a 10-round welterweight tilt this Saturday, January 23 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. The bout is another episode in the Premier Boxing Champions Series (PBC) and fans in the U.S. and Canada can catch all of the action live on the Fox network. Fans in the UK can see it live on BoxNation. Martinez is coming off of an impressive 10-round unanimous decision over former champ Devon Alexander in October while Vasquez last fought in September and stopped Jose Lopez in the fifth round.
The 34-year-old Martinez is 20-4-1 and has just 4 Kos to his name. As his record shows, Martinez is a light-hitting fighter without much power. However, he did manage to drop former champ Robert Guerrero back in June. Martinez has lost three of his past five outings he was also stopped in the fifth round by Josesito Lopez back in March of 2014 and dropped a 10-round decision to Jessie Vargas in 2012. He dropped a 10-round split decision to former champ Guerrero in June and his other loss came at the hands of Abdon Lozano by a six-round majority decision in 2008.
Martinez is 5-feet-9-inches tall and has a reach of 69 inches. He turned pro back in 2004 and has fought 163 rounds since then. His current knockout ratio stands at just 17 per cent. But as Guerrero found out, he still carries enough power on his punch to knock an opponent on the seat of his pants so Vasquez will need to be aware of this and make sure that he doesn’t walk into anything.
The 29-year-old Vasquez is a southpaw who has a perfect mark of 20-0 with 14 Kos. He’s 5-feet-10-inches tall with a 71-inch reach. Vasquez has 82 rounds to his name since turning pro in 2012. He hasn’t really fought anybody of note though and will be taking a step up in class against Martinez. He’s definitely got some power in his punches though with a current knockout ratio of 80 per cent. Vasquez has been a pro for just four years after serving and boxing in the U.S. Army.
Prediction
Since Martinez, who know fights out of Los Angeles, lacks the power to keep Vasquez off of him, look for the Californian to bull his way in and try to dominate the proceedings. Martinez will need to try and box his way to victory, but this will be hard if he can’t land anything with power to keep Vasquez on his back foot. He’ll need to utilize his speed and footwork to get in and land his shots and then get out of range while Vasquez attempts to counter. Vasquez has power, but not much pro experience. He’s definitely a tough guy and has a shot at winning here, but Martinez beat Alexander and could have been given the decision against Guerrero, so perhaps he’s at the peak of his career right now. As long as Martinez can handle Vasquez’s power shots, he should have the skills to pull out a victory here.
