SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – A bout that has been scheduled and rescheduled more than once is just hours away, and Joeshon James is ready to make Lester Martinez pay for pulling out of their earlier dates.

They meet Saturday here at the Orange Show Events Center, and James – who fights out of Sacramento – is ready to put previous frustrations behind him.

“It’s like a fly you’re trying to swat and you can’t get it, and now we’ve finally got him where we want him and we’re about to splat him on the wall,” said James. “We’re almost there. Third time’s a charm. The delays keep happening, but this is what happens in boxing, and I’m not the only one who’s been through it. Even once [for it to happen] is a lot, but I keep a clear mind, keep working and I’m excited for this one, and everything works out perfectly how it’s supposed to.”

Martinez is a touted prospect. Trained by Brian “BoMac” McIntyre, Guatemala’s Martinez is 18-0 (15 KOs), but James believes he is bringing a look and style that Martinez has never seen.

“From what my coaches tell me, he’s really stuck in the mud,” said James. “He just comes forward, he’s really a bully and he has me in front of him – who ain’t gonna run, who’s going to put skills in front of him, put head movement in front of him, push off him and put the jab on him and everything. I’m coming different [than] his other opponents.”

James, of course, is hoping to propel himself up the rankings and put himself on the map by making a statement against Martinez on ProBox TV. 

He has even called it “a make-it-or-break-it fight,” and James, 9-0-2 (5 KOs), refuses to see himself as the underdog or the B-side.

“We both start with clean records and we’re going to give it all we’ve got,” he said. “As far as being an underdog, I don’t look at it like that. We’re fighters, this is how we feed our families, so at the end of the day, we’re going in there and we don’t care about no As and Bs.

“I’m ready to get this damn guy off my damn plate and get him over with. There’s not a day goes by I’ve not thought of Lester, and when I’m cracking the bags, I just want to hurt this guy. The fans were robbed the last few times, and I’m ready to give the fans a great fight.”

Tris Dixon covered his first amateur boxing fight in 1996. The former editor of Boxing News, he has written for a number of international publications and newspapers, including GQ and Men’s Health, and is a board member for the Ringside Charitable Trust and the Ring of Brotherhood. He has been a broadcaster for TNT Sports and hosts the popular “Boxing Life Stories” podcast. Dixon is a British Boxing Hall of Famer, an International Boxing Hall of Fame elector, is on The Ring ratings panel and is the author of five boxing books, including “Damage: The Untold Story of Brain Trauma in Boxing” (shortlisted for the William Hill Sportsbook of the Year), “Warrior: A Champion’s Search for His Identity” (shortlisted for the Sunday Times International Sportsbook of the Year) and “The Road to Nowhere: A Journey Through Boxing’s Wastelands.” You can reach him @trisdixon on X and Instagram.