Friant, CA, – As one of boxing’s rising young superstars, unbeaten Raul ‘The Cobra’ Martinez has dazzled fight fans throughout his four year pro career. Now he’s ready to take the next step, but standing in his way is Isidro ‘Chino’ Garcia, a veteran champion looking to regain his spot at the top of the heap.. It all happens this Friday with Martinez and Garcia battling for the vacant IBA junior bantamweight world championship.
Melee On The Mountain III, an action-packed night of professional boxing presented by Table Mountain Casino in association with Roy Englebrecht Events, will take place at the Table Mountain Casino Events Center in Friant, California. The wildly popular Melee On The Mountain series was launched in 2007, and has featured both boxing and mixed martial arts events that have met with a rousing reception from fight fans.
Doors open at 6pm on Friday, and the first bell rings at 7pm. Tickets, priced from $50 to $30, are available at the Table Mountain Casino box office or online at www.tmcasino.com.
Unbeaten in 22 fights with 13 knockouts, San Antonio’s Raul Martinez has rapidly risen up the ranks since turning pro in 2004. A skillful boxer-puncher who has a warrior’s willingness to take on all comers and who is always in an exciting fight, ‘The Cobra’ has already put together two victories in 2008, decisioning former world title challenger Alex Baba in January, and then outpointing Benjamin Garcia in February for the IBA bantamweight crown. On July 25th, the Top Rank-promoted Martinez drops to 115 pounds to face his toughest test to date.
An ex-champion eager to get back to the top, Isidro “Chino” Garcia (25-4-2, 8 KOs) knows that beating Raul Martinez will move him ever closer to his goal. Born in Guerrero, Mexico, Garcia will always be remembered for the night in 1999 when he won the WBO world flyweight championship. Settling into his seat as a spectator of the vacant title bout between Jose Lopez and Alejandro Montiel, Garcia soon found out that Montiel had withdrawn from the fight just hours before. So, using a borrowed mouthpiece and trunks, Garcia stepped up to the plate and not only fought Lopez, but decisioned him decisively over 12 rounds. Garcia would defend his title once before losing it to Fernando Montiel in December of 2000, and would later take a lengthy break from the ring. In 2007 though, he returned to the ring and has since won three out of four bouts, including a win over Cesar Lopez that earned him the IBA flyweight crown. Now he looks to add the IBA’s 115-pound crown to his trophy case.
Also featured on July 25th’s five bout card will be a Semi Main Event featuring two undefeated heavyweights with 7-0 Herman Binek facing 4-0 Keith Spencer in the six round semi. Binek, out of Germany has been out of the ring for a year, and Spencer is out of Ventura. This is a KO war as Binek has six knockouts and Spencer three.
The prelim bouts will see 1-2 Cesar Garcia facing 0-0-1 Robert Vargas, 1-0 Gab Tolmajyan vs pro debuter Edgar Jauregui from Bakersfield; and 3-1 Sergio Herrera meeting pro debuter Jose Luis Mares from Lompoc.
This will be the third pro show for Englebrecht in eight days, as he had the Affliction Banned show this past Saturday at the Honda Center, the Melee On The Mountain show Friday, and SummerFist 2008 at the Orange County Fair Sunday evening.