World title fights in Spain aren't a regular thing though this weekend sees us getting one as the hard hitting Kiko Martinez (29-4, 21) looks to make the first defense of his IBF Super Bantamweight title. The bout, an early Christmas present for Spanish fans, isn't just a bout that sees a local man defending his world title but sees him doing so against another world level fighter in the form of South African Jeffrey Mathebula (27-4-2, 14), a former holder of this very title.
Martinez shocked the boxing world just a few months back when he traveled to America and beat up the then champion Jhonatan Romero in a real career defining performance. Despite being written off by many, including myself, Martinez took his chance and battered the previously unbeaten Romero around the ring forcing the referee to save Romero near the end of round 6.
This time around their is expectation on Martinez's shoulders as he's the defending champion and he's the man fighting at home. Surprisingly this isn't just the highest profile bout Martinez has had in Spain but is also his first fight there since April 2011 when he beat Jason Booth for the European Super Bantamweight title.
With Martinez you know what you get. A bulldozer type fighter who hasn't got a reverse gear, he's a man who goes into the ring with a seek and destroy mentality, heavy hands and solid work rate. He's crude, can be out boxed and does make mistakes but if he can connect on you he can break you down, so he's never a fighter that you want to exchange with.
Whilst Martinez is well known to Europeans Mathebula is much less well known, despite one major fight that was televised on the world stage against Nonito Donaire. In the Donaire fight we saw that Mathebula was a busy fighter who used his freakish height and reach decently, though not amazingly. His jab seemed to be his key shot and is very, very busy though he lacks power on them and Donaire seemed happy to take one or two of them to land one of his own thudding shots.
It wasn't the work rate of Mathebula that impressed the most against Donaire but instead his toughness. He was hurt, wobbled and downed though fought on with a broken facial bone and continued to fight back. This heart and toughness was incredible even if he was struggling late as a result of his injury.
The toughness of Mathebula will serve him well here but he could be in major problems if Martinez can get inside him and break him down with body shots, something Donaire neglected to throw, as well as the hooks that are a key part of his game. The jab of Mathebula needs to be accurate and forceful to make Martinez think twice, if it's not then this fight could be very much a massacre by Martinez.
Prediction-Martinez TKO7
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