Kiko Martinez Aims To Prove His Worth With Romero

By Ben Jacobs

Spaniard Kiko Martínez (28-4, 20 KOs) headed to Atlantic City content with his two month training camp in California.  Martínez challenges Colombian Jhonathan Romero (23-0, 12 KOs) for the IBF super-bantamweight title as chief support to the middleweight title bout between Daniel Geale and Darren Barker.

“I feel good, happy with the work that I’ve done,” said Martínez.

“I’ve studied my opponent, I’ve watched tape on him throughout the training camp.  He’s got a good reach and moves well but we’ve worked specifically for him.

“I’m just waiting for the fight now to show that we are the champions.”

Martínez bounced back from a knockout loss to Carl Frampton with victory in Argentina over Damian David Marchiano just under four months ago.  The Alicante native admits that the loss affected him, but says he has regained his confidence heading into his first world title bout.

“The fight that I had in Argentina helped me. In truth, I had a lot of doubts in my mind after the Frampton fight, but you have to accept things, look forward and don’t think about the past.

“I don’t want to make any excuses, Frampton got me with a good shot and it wasn’t my night.

“I’m going to try and win [on] Saturday for my team and for my family.”

Martínez is trained by Pablo Sarmiento and has been sparring with top level Mexican fighters, in addition to working with Javier Fortuna.  He fights under the management of Maravilla Box.

“It’s great to have someone like [Sergio] “Maravilla” Martínez and his team behind you to help with these big fights, it’s a great opportunity."