Older fighter, same result.
Sergio Martinez, the 45-year-old former titleholder who hadn’t fought in six years, stopped Jose Miguel Fandino in seven rounds in a super middleweight fight Friday in Torrelavega, Spain.
Martinez (52-3-2, 29 KOs) put the 36-year-old Fandino (15-7, 8 KOs) down twice with body shots, once in the sixth and once in the final round. A Fandino cornerman threw in the towel during the referee’s.
Spectators at Estadio El Malecon reportedly were limited to about 1,000 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Martinez fought with both knees wrapped and moved well, if a bit more slowly than he once had. An injury to the Argentine’s right knee plagued him in his previous few fights.
He injured it in the final round of his unanimous-decision victory over Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in defense of his middleweight title in September 2012 and was never the same.
Martinez, once on pound-for-pound lists, eked past Martin Murray by decision the following April but, essentially fighting on one leg, he was stopped by Miguel Cotto in 10 rounds to lose his belt in June 2014.
He didn’t fight again until Friday.
