Is flyweight titleholder Julio Cesar Martinez a threat to Juan Francisco Estrada and Roman Gonzalez at junior bantamweight? His trainer, Eddy Reynoso, thinks so.
Martinez, an under-the-radar little man from Mexico, appeared to win a 112-pound title last August when he stopped Charlie Edwards in three rounds only to have the result declared a no-contest because he punched Edwards while he was down.
No problem. Martinez (16-1, 12 KOs) scored a ninth-round knockout of Cristofer Rosales four months later to win the vacant championship and successfully defended against Jay Harris in February.
Reynoso would like to see his 25-year-old protege unify against either Moruti Mthalane or Kosei Tanaka at 112 pounds and then move up to 115.
In Reynoso’s opinion, the sky is the limit with Martinez.
“He’s very disciplined,” Reynoso said in the second episode of Matchroom Boxing’s Spanish-language series “Peleamundo.” “He shows all the characteristics of a typical Mexican fighter. He likes to fight. He likes to train and more than anything, he’s a star.
“In such few fights he’s already won a world championship and I believe if he keeps on the same path, he’s going to do great things because he’s a good fighter who’s very fond of learning, he’s very technical. He’s there. He’s a great champion.
Reynoso went on: “He’s charismatic, he’s brave, he’s a very strong fighter for the division. He has lots of endurance. He’s not scared. Whatever fight you put him in, he’ll fight. He’s different than the other fighters. He has a few things to learn, but we’re going to vary the training to get him more technically sound fight by fight.”
Reynoso also likes Martinez’s demeanor.
“He’s always laughing and smiling,” he said. “He turns the fights into like a circus. He’s very positive. You never see him angry. He’s a very hard working, smiling, laughing, positive fighter.”
And, Reynoso added, Martinez is just getting started.
“We’re going to keep him at flyweight and try to defend and unify with Tanaka or Mthalane,” he said. “… We’re getting harder fights little by little. We’ll move up to 115 pounds to fight Estrada, [Carlos] Cuadras, Chocolatito, there’s so many good fighters. And I believe it’s step by step. We’ll keep him at featherweight then move up to super featherweight.”
The second episode of “Peleamundo” will hit Matchroom’s YouTube channel on Sunday. Welterweight contender Jessie Vargas is the host.