Argentina’s Fernando Martinez (15-0, 8 KOs) retained his IBF Junior Bantamweight World Championship with a hard-fought unanimous decision over former champion Jerwin Ancajas (33-3-2, 22 KOs) in their 12-round rematch.
“This was about validating the first fight,” said Martinez. “I trained very hard for this fight. I have a lot of people to thank, but most importantly this is for my dad up in heaven. It’s definitely harder to maintain the hunger and retain the title, but now we’re going after ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez and everyone else in the division who’s in my way.”
After winning the title from the then longtime champion Ancajas in February on SHOWTIME, Martinez repeated the feat Saturday night by out landing his opponent in seven of the final eight rounds. With his promoter and former world champion Marcos Maidana ringside, Martinez put on a performance worthy of his idol, landing 241 shots to Ancajas’ 185, for a 36% connect rate.
After what appeared to be an even start, with both fighters landing 71 punches in rounds one through five, Martinez began to put combinations together and land multiple power shots on Ancajas with each flurry. While Ancajas was able to occasionally hold effectively and land counters of his own, he was unable to hurt his hard-charging opponent, despite out throwing him (785-674).
Martinez rode an impressive 38% connect rate on power punches to pull away in the fight and snuff out any hope of an Ancajas comeback on the cards or via KO. After 12 rounds of lively action, Martinez earned the decision on all three cards, with tallies of 119-109 and 118-110 twice.
“My record shows that I’m a champion but it doesn’t show the intensity that I have in my fights,” said Martinez. “Now I can buy the house that my mother needs.”
Action streaming live on the SHOWTIME SPORTS YouTube channel and SHOWTIME® Boxing Facebook page was topped by welterweight contender Egidijus “Mean Machine” Kavaliauskas (23-2-1, 18 KOs) as he rode two round three knockdowns to a unanimous decision over Mykal Fox (22-4, 5 KOs) after 10 rounds with scores of 100-88, 99-89 and 98-90. The streaming presentation also saw an eight-round featherweight duel featuring Edward Vazquez (13-1, 3 KOs) edging Viktor Slavinskyi (13-2-1, 6 KOs) by split decision with a 78-74 tally in favor of Slavinskyi overruled by 79-73 and 77-75 scores for Vazquez.
Kicking off the stream was rising unbeaten flyweight Gabriela Fundora (9-0, 4 KOs), the younger sister of headliner Sebastian, as she dominated Mexico’s Naomi Reyes (9-2, 5 KOs) on her way to a unanimous decision by scores of 98-92 and 99-91 twice.
“I did what I said I was going to do – fireworks,” said Fundora. “She was a tough opponent, so you have to give her credit. It was a good fight overall. We threw all the punches that we worked on in the gym and it showed tonight. They’re all short opponents for me. I already expect that she’s going to be shorter than me and we just do our thing, even if she was tall.”
“This is a dream come true to fight on the same card as my sister,” said Sebastian Fundora after his fight. “It was a very hard camp but we pushed through. Hopefully we’ll see you guys again in the spring.”
The event was promoted by TGB Promotions and Sampson Boxing.
Saturday’s SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING telecast will replay Sunday, October 9 at 9 a.m. ET/PT on SHOWTIME and Monday, October 10 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on SHOWTIME EXTREME®.