By Jake Donovan
For the past few months, there had been speculation over how long Raul “La Cobrita” Martinez would remain on the Telefutura circuit. There were only so many times he could appear on a series geared toward helping fighters transition from prospect to contender and fallen fighters on the comeback trail.
The decision to advance his career seemed to be the obvious choice, but now is perhaps the only one. The recent announcement of the Solo Boxeo series coming to a close limits the viable options for a fighter like Martinez, who’s beyond the prospect level, but still in need of further development before challenging for a title at or around the 115 lb limit in which he presently campaigns.
He has the chance to go out with a bang this weekend, as he’s matched up against Mexican banger Victor Proa in a battle of unbeaten super flyweights (Friday, 8PM ET/PT, Philadelphia, PA).
The matchup comes on the heels of a Fight of the Year contender seven days prior, when Rogers Mtwaga overcame a ninth round knockdown to score three of his own in pulling out an improbable tenth round knockout. As the days count down until the end of the Solo Boxeo series, all eyes will be on the precious few shows remaining.
For Martinez, that’s a good thing.
Attention was what his career was sorely lacking heading 2008. His name rang out, but boxing fans rarely got a glimpse at a fighter often described as a can’t-miss future star.
The lone exception was in early 2006, when Martinez nearly stole the show on a ShoBox card headlined by then-unbeaten Joel Julio. About 30 or so minutes before Julio would have his way with Robert Kamya, simultaneously showed skill and will, overcoming a near fight-ending cut to become the first to stop Andres Ledesma.
A star appeared to be born at that very moment, but the exposure his career deserved wouldn’t follow. Just one of his next seven fights would appear in front of a live camera, a tenth round stoppage of Ilido Julio on Versus Network in September 2006.
The performance was solid enough, but for whatever reason served as cause to severely downgrade his competition. He remained active, fighting four times in the span of seven months, but none against opposition that provided any more than another check mark in the win column.
What had also changed over that stretch was Martinez’ fighting style. Once a fire-breathing dragon susceptible to cuts, La Cobrita adopted a more measured approach to his bouts, remaining poised regardless of circumstances.
Such was evident in his first fight back on camera, remaining calm under pressure against bantamweight trialhorse Alex Baba in decisive unanimous decision win in Brownsville, Texas. Martinez could've afforded to step on the gas a little more, as he had Baba hurt on several occasions, but never quite went for the kill.
A similar test was anticipated in his next fight, which took place five weeks later and about 30 miles away. Benjamin Garcia had a penchant for taking on top, often undefeated prospects, and giving one and all the toughest challenges of their young career, even pulling off the occasional upset.
What the Mexican spoiler would soon learn was that Martinez was no run-of-the-mill prospect. A ten-round beating followed, and though it lasted the distance, back was Martinez’ overwhelming desire to inflict as much pain as possible onto his opponent.
Oddly enough, his most impressive win to date was the only fight of his in 2008 to not benefit from television coverage. Former flyweight titlist Isidro Garcia was lined up for the young Mexican boxer-puncher earlier this summer, in efforts to match Martinez up against top-level veterans as he began to advance in all of the major alphabet rankings (and also ranked #9 junior bantamweight in the world by Boxingscene.com). But the end result was the same – Martinez pitching a virtual shutout, having his way with Garcia en route to a lopsided win.
Recognizing that their young lion had long ago outgrown soft matchmaking, Top Rank takes a considerable risk with their superstar in the making.
In Victor Proa (26-0-2, 19KO), Martinez faces his first unbeaten opponent (excluding pro debaters). Rare is the occasion that two unbeaten prospects meet up on Telefutura; more often than not, they will appear on the same card but in separate showcase bouts. When such a fight occurs, fans tend to look beyond the records, see who’s carrying a soft “0” and who’s truly earned theirs.
On paper, advantage Martinez, as Proa’s level of competition is hardly anything to write home about. Still, he boasts enough potential to have caught the eye of mid-south promotions group Prize Fight Boxing, who signed the Mexican to their stable earlier this year. The move led to Proa’s lone fight outside of his native Mexico, wowing the crowd with a three-round, six-knockdown destruction of Valentin Leon in Tunica, Miss.
If nothing else, the performance confirmed what his record already suggested – that the kid can crack.
Tonight, we get to find out if he can perform at live combat speed. The greater risk that comes with facing someone like Proa is, while his resume doesn’t exactly sparkle, he’s also yet to be in the fight that would address any flaws he may or may not possess. To date, he’s enjoyed great success as a brawler, though not to say that every fight is spent flailing away while throwing caution to the wind.
In some ways, he’s not unlike Martinez, though perhaps a poor man’s version at the moment. For both, the one time need to fight at 100 mph is now replaced with a more cerebral approach to inflicting pain on their opponents, even if it means letting them cross the finish line.
The only absolute for either fighter that comes out of tonight’s fight is that it will be their last ever appearance on Solo Boxeo Tecate. The big question for Raul Martinez is, does he graduate to full-fledged contender status, or flunk out and repeat the prospect course in a much smaller classroom?
Jake Donovan is a voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Comments/questions can be submitted to JakeNDaBox@gmail.com.
