Steven Martinez Looks To Back His Words Up in The Ring

By Mitch Abramson
 
Steven Martinez didn’t take the bait. The undefeated junior middleweight from the Bronx bit his tongue, instead. A rival from his hometown had dismissed him as a potential opponent, saying he wasn’t in his class. Martinez didn’t issue a response. He just shrugged it off. For an offensive fighter such as Martinez, whose best defense is often his offense, it was an interesting reaction. But Martinez, a former National Golden Gloves champion, is laid back and quiet outside the ring. It’s not his style to call out other fighters.

“I’m not like Mayweather and other boxers where I’m talking trash about opponents yet and calling them out,” he said with a laugh. “I’m not on that level yet.”

His handlers believe it’s only a matter of time until the 11-0 Martinez reaches that stage in his career where he will be calling the shots. The fact that Martinez is not prone to trash talking and insults has only endeared Martinez to his promoters.

“He’s a good kid, very laid back,” said Joe Quiambao, a matchmaker for Lou DiBella, who promotes Martinez. “I could see him being a star if he goes far like we expect him to. He’s a very corporate friendly guy, very good kid.”

He’s also a very television-friendly fighter, with his all-action style.

On the undercard of Sergio Martinez and Darren Barker this past Saturday, Martinez stopped Jay Krupp (14-4) with a fifth-round technical knockout, raising his record to 11-0 with nine knockouts in an eight-round bout that showcased his punching power.
Martinez, 21, may not be that well-known. Quiambao pointed out that he’s probably dwarfed in popularity at the moment by the former U.S. Olympian Sadam Ali and Danny Jacobs, who are both from New York. But after shoring up some defensive issues- Martinez was dropped in his third fight before stopping Corey Washington- Martinez is quickly making a name for himself for his willingness to mix it up and ability to finish opponents when they are hurt.

“He’s not getting the same press as those guys at this point,” Quiambao said. “But he’s just as good. He’s going to be stepping it up now in his career. I expect big things from him. He’s going to have to touch up his defense but he’s always in good fights, and that’s what TV likes.”

As Quiambao and DiBella develop him from a four-round fighter to a contender, Quiambao has been impressed with his insistence on throwing lots of punches, sometimes to the detriment of his defense.

“It gets a little crazy when he gets hit,” Quiambao said. “It’s like, ‘Oh my gosh,’ because you work with these guys and get attached to them. But some of the knockouts he has on Broadway Boxing, you can just hear the bang of his punches; you just hear the sound effects.”

Rather than crow about his knockouts, Martinez is more apt to talk about his family and the work he has to do to reach his goals in boxing.

Martinez, who is managed by Pat Lynch and the Giants running back Brandon Jacobs, is poised in and out of the ring, Quiambao said, a trait Martinez said he owes to having a four-year-old son and to wanting him to have a better upbringing than he did as a child.

“I have a family and that’s what keeps me hungry,” Martinez said. “The motivation is that I want to make it and be able to feed and clothe my son, for him to have a better lifestyle growing up than I was a kid growing up. Having a child changed my whole life.”

Martinez, who may fight once or possibly twice more before the year is up,  benefitted from being in training camp with Sergio Martinez (no relation). The public knows that

“Maravilla” likes to drop his hands in fights, but Steven said he was a bit surprised to see Sergio dropping his hands even to hit the punching bag. Steven, who is so offensive- minded, always on the attack, that he has to keep his hands up at all times, won’t be emulating that style in his own fights.

“If I was in the amateurs I might do that,” he said. “But I wouldn’t do that for nobody now. That’s like asking to get hit, and I’m trying to get hit as less as possible.”

Mitch Abramson covers boxing for the New York Daily News and BoxingScene.com.