PHOENIX – Julio Cesar Martinez has his first title. But it looks as if “long time” will soon supplant “first time.”
Martinez fought with poise, precision and power, claiming his first flyweight belt in a ninth-round stoppage of Cristofer Rosales on the Daniel Jacobs-Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. card Friday night at Talking Stick Arena.
Mostly, Martinez (15-1, 12 KOs) fought with a plan, one he sustained with veteran-like skill. He pursued stubbornly and at a pace that left Rosales (29-5, 20 KOs) exhausted and, in the end, with no chance.
“Whoever, whenever, I’m ready to defend this,’’ Martinez said after accepting the belt from Hall of Famer Michael Carbajal, a Phoenix native and one the best little guys in boxing history
A lively crowd, which filled the lower bowl of the arena, roared throughout a terrific second round. Both fighters scored with punches that could be heard at ringside. First, Martinez. Then, Rosales. Again, Martinez. Blood began to drip from a small cut above Martinez’s right eye.
In the third, the shorter Martinez, who collected a $100,000 purse, began to dictate tempo with a compact style and fast, powerful hands. Repeated uppercuts began to back up and bloody Rosales, a Nicaraguan and former 112-pound champion.
In the fifth and again the sixth, Martinez began to back up Rosales with repeated body blows. They landed with a rhythm, almost like a drumbeat. “Mexico! Mexico!” the crowd chanted, it was beginning to look as if the Martinez would bring the belt back home to Mexico City.
In the seventh, Rosales began to retreat from the pursuing Martinez, who had Canelo Alvarez trainer Eddy Reynoso in his corner. Late in the round, however, there was nowhere to go and that’s when Martinez caught him with a succession of shots that left him looking dazed and defeated. The inevitable was just a couple of rounds away.
In other preliminary fights, Maurice Hooker wanted to say he was back. Needed to say he was back. He got that chance faster than he might have imagined.
In his first fight since losing a junior welterweight title to Jose Ramirez in July, Hooker needed less than three minutes to shout far and wide that, yes, he has returned and is ready to get back into the title mix.
“I’m back, I’m back,’’ Hooker (27-1-3, 18 KOs) said seconds after stopping Mexican Uriel Perez (19-5, 17 KOs) with blitz of body and head shots at 2:53 of the first round.
Hooker, who has been training with leading pound-for-pound contender Terence Crawford, said he was eager to fight for a 140-pound title as soon as possible.
“Josh Taylor, anybody who’s out there,’’ said Hooker, a Dallas fighter who collected $326,250, according to a contract filed with the Arizona Boxing & MMA Commission.
Kazakhstani welterweight Daniyar Yeleussinov (9-0, 5 KOs), a 2016 Olympic gold medalist, is called Thunder for a reason. He’ got plenty of it in his left hand. It landed in the second round, leaving a bruise the color of a darkening cloud beneath Alan Sanchez’s left eye. For the next two rounds, the bruise got darker and grew, nearly closing the eye. By the fifth, the referee and ringside physician could see what Sanchez (20-5-1, 10 KOs) couldn’t anymore. They ended it at 19 seconds of the round.
There was a knockdown in the first. There was one in the 10th. Knockdowns framed the fight, bookends to a 10-rounder. The last knockdown was scored by U.K. welterweight Josh Kelly (10-0-1, 6 KOs), a 2016 Olympic bronze medalist who got up from the first one and built momentum throughout the next nine rounds with a punishing pursuit for a unanimous decision over Nicaraguan Winston Campos (31-7-6, 19 KOs).
Former junior middleweight champion Liam Smith (29-2-1, 16 KOs) got more work than he might have expected from Roberto Garcia (42-4, 25 KOs), a Weslaco, Texas, fighter who took shots and landed a few. But the bigger punches came from Smith, a 31-year-old U.K. veteran who won a 10-round unanimous decision and collected $118,445 for a full night of work.
Prospect Reshat Mati (6-0, 4 KOs), a welterweight from Long Island, New York, needed only a few minutes to do it all, including a breakdance. Mati threw head shots, body shots, shots to the shoulder and shots to the elbow, knocking down Rakim Johnson (6-9-1, 5 KOs) four times in 2:05. The Indianapolis fighter was finished, but Mati wasn’t. He danced.
In a swing fight needed to fill some time before the co-main and main events, New Jersey featherweight Raymond Ford (5-0, 2 KOs) needed very little time. In less than a minute, he blew away Francisco Muro (3-7 2 KOs) of Tucson, Arizona.