Martinez: You Can't Let Lomachencko Think; Have To Pressure Him

By Keith Idec

Rocky Martinez learned some significant things while watching film of Orlando Salido’s narrow victory over Vasyl Lomachenko.

Puerto Rico’s Martinez, who went 1-0-1 against Mexico’s Salido last year, acknowledged during a recent conference call that he’ll take some of what allowed Salido to succeed against Lomachenko into the ring Saturday night. Martinez (29-3-2, 17 KOs) is scheduled to defend his WBO world super featherweight title that night against Ukraine’s Lomachenko (5-1, 3 KOs) in the main event of HBO’s “Boxing After Dark” doubleheader from The Theater at Madison Square Garden.

The 28-year-old Lomachenko – a smart, skillful southpaw who won Olympic gold medals in 2008 and 2012 – will attempt to win a world title in a second weight class in just his seventh professional fight. He won the then-vacant WBO featherweight championship against Gary Russell Jr. (27-1 16 KOs), whom Lomachenko beat by majority decision in June 2014 in Carson, California.

“The key is not letting Lomachenko think,” Martinez said through a translator during a recent conference call. “You have to pressure him. You have to attack him, but in an intelligent manner because he’s a very good technical boxer and he knows how to attack himself. So when he wants to come in, you have to be smart about it and let him come in and try to engage you in exchanges. But the key is attacking the body and not letting Lomachenko think during the fight.”

The 33-year-old Martinez will make the second defense of the 130-pound championship he won he when defeated Salido (43-13-4, 30 KOs, 1 NC) by unanimous decision in their first fight 14 months ago in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Martinez boxed more during his two fights against the aggressive, rugged Salido than he did in most of his previous bouts, but is intent to utilize a mixture of styles Saturday night.

“I’m going to fight a smart fight,” Martinez said. “I’m going to box when I have to box. I’m going to pressure when I think it’s necessary because Lomachenko knows when to hold, knows how to evade punches and knows how to put his opponent out of position. So we’re going to work on a full plan for the fight against Lomachenko.”

Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.