Boxing trainer Andres Martinez capped off a heavy couple of years with a triumphant victory to end 2025.
Martinez, along with his co-trainer Joe Urias, led Joeshon James to a super middleweight victory over unbeaten Yojanler Martinez at the War Memorial Auditorium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The bout, which aired on ProBox TV, was notable in that it had a rare double knockdown in the third round.
Martinez has had a heavy three years, as he lost his two brothers, all while training the 27-year-old James, whom he joined forces with in 2018 having met at Midtown Fitness and Boxing in Sacramento. In 2022, three weeks before James, now 10-1-2 (5 KOs), stopped previously unbeaten Richard Brewart Jnr, tragedy struck Martinez and his family when Luis, better known as Kiki, took his own life.
The camp for that fight was self-funded and mostly held in Las Vegas. The loss of Luis set an emotional tone that carried over to James' fight with Brewart.
“I had to hide a lot in that training camp,” Martinez said. “That is why that win meant so much. A lot of emotion went into that camp from everybody.”
Martinez recalled entering the boxing gym with his younger brother, Kiki, who he saw as a better boxer than himself. Martinez couldn’t recall what his amateur record was when he stopped boxing, but he knew Kiki ended his amateur career with a 30-5 record.
“I learned a lot of good and bad in boxing when I trained,” Martinez said. “We didn’t have much money, but we could afford boxing and I loved it. It was hard, and I wasn’t that good at it, but I stuck with it from 13 to 29 years old. I stopped right after my pro debut.”
The following year, James, eager to prove himself, fought 2020 Olympic trials winner and unbeaten Top Rank middleweight prospect Javier Martinez to a draw, and followed that against unbeaten Abilkhan Amankul on the Saul “Canelo” Alvarez-Jermell Charlo undercard. Amankul has not fought since. However, Martinez would lose his older brother, Mario, 11 months later, from a drug overdose.
“They always say one of the brothers will have to bury the other two,” Martinez said. “It is just hard that it had to be me who lived through it. It was a difficult time, and I am now setting goals for myself to stay motivated.”
Meanwhile, James continued to be a risk-taker. He knocked out David Stevens in one round on Golden Boy Promotions' card although the following year, things went stagnant and James fought only once in 2024, winning a unanimous decision over Vaughn Alexander. He was scheduled to fight Lester Martinez multiple times, but the fight was repeatedly postponed.
Then, when they fought in March, Martinez stopped James early. Things compounded. Martinez lost his brothers, and now James, his fighter, who had defied the odds, suffered a loss.
“I knew we had to win this fight,” Martinez said of the December bout with [Yojanier] Martinez. “We can’t lose two in a row.”
James was originally set to face Marques Valle in his comeback, but the opponent changed to Martinez, 5-1-1 (2 KOs), an unbeaten power puncher. Now the team is hopeful that James can get to the point of facing the biggest names in the sport, knowing the mission isn’t accomplished just yet.
“The victory was a redemption, but it isn’t the end,” Martinez said. “People don’t fully know what Joeshon is capable of. We are going to get back to doing certain things. We never say no to a fight, and I believe he can bring a title back to Sacramento.”
Lucas Ketelle is the author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @BigDogLukie.
