Donaire vs. Martinez - Raul Will Show No Fear

By Mark Vester

Raul Martinez (24-0, 14KOs) has no fear of the very hostile crowd when he steps in the ring against hometown hero Nonito Donaire (20-1, 13KOs) at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, Metro Manila in the Philippines. The fight takes place on Saturday night with Top Rank pay-per-view televising.

Speaking with Michael Doss of BoxingScene.com, the native of San Antonio, Texas said the crowd will not be able to help Donaire. Once they step in the ring, there will only be two men. The crowd will not be able to fight the fight and he won't pay attention to the crowd. Martinez wants to return to the United States with the IBF/IBO flyweight titles around his waist.

"As an amateur I traveled all over the world, so I got a little taste of that. I'm not fighting his people. I'm not fighting the crowd. I'm fighting him. I'm sparring him, I'm not sparring the crowd. I'm going in, I'm coming in to fight him and take those titles," Martinez said. 

Martinez feels the moment is right and everything has fallen into place for the fight. Donaire has a two inch height advantage, but their reach is the same at 68-inches. Donaire did not look too good in his last fight, and it was the only fight he took part in for the entire twelve month period of 2008. Martinez fought four times in 2008, stopping his last opponent Victor Proa (26-0) in a single round.

"My weight is good. My conditioning is good. I'm going over there to do an upset. I have 24 fights. I have a good amateur background. I feel that I have a great trainer and a good stable at my gym. I feel confident that we can do something out there and come back as the world champ. I'm going to another level and I'm going to be around for a long time," Martinez said.

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