In a dazzling performance, Josh Warrington (31-1-1, 8 KOs) obliterated the overmatched IBF featherweight champion Kiko Martinez (43-11-2, 30 KOs) in blasting him out in the seventh round in a one-sided fight from start to finish on Saturday night in their rematch at the First Direct Arena in Leeds, England.
According to promoter Eddie Hearn, Warrington suffered a broken jaw during the fight. The injury could have happened in the second round when Martinez nailed him with a big shot on the jaw that whiplashed his head, causing him to back off.
Warrington flurried on a cut to pieces Martinez in the seventh round until the referee Marcos McDonnell stepped in to halt the slaughter. Martinez’s face was a mask of blood from cuts over both eyes and from his forehead.
At that point in the fight, Martinez, 36, had nothing left in the tank because Warrington had beaten it out of him in the previous six rounds.
The Spaniard Martinez was in trouble from the first round, as he was backed up against the ropes by Warrington and bombarded by numerous headshots.
Confirmed from the hospital @J_Warrington clean break of his jaw prior to stopping Kiko Martinez to win the World title tonight @DAZNBoxing pic.twitter.com/Oc3xI83tzZ
— Eddie Hearn (@EddieHearn) March 27, 2022
Towards the end of the round, Warrington caught the 36-year-old Kiko with a perfectly placed left hook that sent him down on the canvas. Kiko never saw the punch coming because he was throwing a right hand simultaneously, and Warrington’s punch got there first.
During the round, Kiko suffered a nasty cut over his left eye from one of the many punches Warrington’d hit with. It’s hard to identify at what punch opened the cut because Warrington was throwing sustained combinations during a good portion of the opening round.
Warrington resumed tagging Martinez in the second round with withering fire after trapping him against the ropes. At times, Warrington was smothering his work, but his punches were still damaging Martinez’s face.
The referee Marcus McDonnell gave Josh a warning for using the shoulder. Warrington had a bit of head-to-head contact when he had Martinez against the ropes.
Near the end of the second, Martinez caught Warrington with a jarring left hook to the head that seemed to stun him enough to cause him to stop throwing punches.
In the third, Warrington looked wary of mixing it up with the Spaniard Martinez, perhaps due to the left hand, he’d earn in the previous round. Warrington did an excellent job of boxing, hitting & moving, and not letting the slow-footed Kiko get near enough to him to land anything of significance.
Martinez suffered a cut over his right eye in the fourth round. Again, it was unclear what Warrington hit Martinez with to open the cut, as he hit him a lot in that round. Warrington also initiated some head contact when he had him against the ropes.
It was a good performance by Warrington against a guy who wasn’t in his class tonight.