Kiko Martinez Back With Sarmiento, Leo Santa Cruz Looms?

By Elisinio Castillo

While his upcoming fight has not been determined, former world champion Kiko Martinez (35-6, 26 KOs) will travel on Sunday to Puerto Rico to start training again under the command of Gabi Sarmiento, who used to be the trainer of former middleweight champion Sergio Martinez.

 The Argentine coach and worked with the boxer in 2014 for title defenses against Hozumi Hasegawa and Carl Frampton . They parted ways after Sarmiento moved his gym to Puerto Rico.

Martinez is a candidate to face WBA featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz (30-0-1, 17KOs), potentially on a date in February. Since getting stopped by Scott Quigg in two rounds, Martinez won three bouts in the featherweight division.

Sarmiento says there is nothing confirmed with Santa Cruz, but the fight is being discussed. Santa Cruz picked up his biggest victory last year when he captured a third divisional title with a twelve round decision win over rival Abner Mares. There were legal issues that prevented Sarmiento from entering the United States, but those problems have now been cleared up.

"There is nothing confirmed [with Santa Cruz]. It depends on the Americans who in turn depend on the television network. The fight with Leo Santa Cruz is a unique opportunity, because he is currently one of the best and he's coming off a win over Abner Mares, who has a similar stature to Kiko. [Santa Cruz] is not a natural featherweight, so the weight will not be a big problem. I can already travel to the United States, so I will go with my boxers," Sarmiento told Espa Box.