Julio Cesar Martinez didn’t get the stoppage that most expected him to get for his first defense of his flyweight title, but he put up a dominating performance anyway.
In a fervent 12-rounder, Martinez out-slugged untested Jay Harris, dropping him once en route to a unanimous decision win Saturday night at Ford Center at The Star in Frisco Texas on the Mikey Garcia-Jesse Vargas card.
The judges scored it 118-109, 116-111 and 115-112, all for the 25-year-old Martinez, who had previously never gone the distance in a 12-round bout.
“Thank God, it was a very tough battle,” said Martinez, who earned his flyweight trinket by defeating Cristofer Rosales in a vacant title shot in December. “I’ll defend this title many times. There is no fear right here.”
An entertaining offensive fighter who throws punches with abandon, Martinez (16-1, 12 KOs) started off fast and appeared to be on track for an early stoppage. But Harris (17-1, 9 KOs), from Swansea, Wales, was far more game than expected. While his head snapped back repeatedly from Martinez’s hard-winging shots early on, Harris was able to put up a decent fight in the second half of the bout. He worked diligently behind a jab and consistently answered Martinez’s flurries with his own combinations. Harris also repeatedly dug himself out of holes. In Round 7, Harris looked as though he was going to get stopped, but he fought back to arguably win the round.
Martinez’s commitment to the body paid off thirty seconds into Round 10, when he landed a hard left and right to the flanks that forced Harris to take a knee. Nevertheless, Harris was able to beat the count.
Asked if Harris surprised him at all, Martinez said, “Harris is a very strong fighter. I know that’s why he was undefeated.”
A possible matchup could be a unification against Japan’s Kosei Tanaka.