By Joseph Herron: It takes a very special person to enter the ring. A prizefighter embraces pain and burns it like fuel during the fight. Muhammad Ali once stated that towards the end of his career, he began to enjoy the sensation of pain.
Fighters just want to fight. So often, boxers will fight through pain and injury suffered in training to fulfill their obligations, to keep from disappointing fans, and more importantly, for the much needed payday.
Most fight fans and boxing scribes are oblivious to these frequent injuries due to a fighter’s pride and threshold for pain.
Unlike an athlete in the NFL, NBA, or MLB, if a fighter gets injured, there is no replacement waiting to jump in the ring and there’s no guaranteed money if he can’t make it to fight night.
This past Saturday, Cristian Mijares defended his IBF Super Flyweight title successfully in Durango, Mexico, against Nicaraguan fighter Carlos Rueda. The Mexican fighter earned a one sided unanimous decision in a very anticlimactic event.
Mijares was scheduled to face his IBF mandatory opponent over the weekend, but was forced to find a replacement just two weeks before the bout.
On April 28th, while preparing for the most important fight of his life, Raul Martinez suffered a bad gash over the bridge of his nose while sparring in San Antonio, TX.
“The Cobra” was forced to make a tough decision.
“I wanted to fight Mijares on Saturday night, but my team thought it best to wait for the cut to heal going into the biggest fight of my life,” claims Martinez. “I am in great shape and I was prepared to fight through the injury, but my team felt that I wouldn’t be giving myself the best chance to win against a great fighter like Mijares.”
Martinez was disappointed to say the least.
“I’ve been waiting for Mijares since I won the title eliminator bout in November of last year and I finally got my championship opportunity…now I am forced to wait a little while longer,” states Martinez. “I didn’t think the injury was that big of a deal…I’m used to fighting through injury. I’ve definitely fought through a lot worse.”
Back in 2003 when competing as an amateur in the US Challenge Olympic Qualifier, Raul broke his orbital bone while fighting bantamweight Ron Siler. Raul not only finished the fight, he fought through the rest of the tournament with a very painful and serious injury.
“The doctors said that if I had taken a couple of more shots on the damaged eye, I could have suffered permanent damage and ended my career as a fighter,” claims the San Antonio native. “At the time, I was just worried about trying to make the Olympic team.”
Unfortunately for Raul, there was no hiding his most recent injury.
“I would have entered a Championship fight against a very accurate puncher with a big target on my nose,” professes Martinez. “My team didn’t want to give the Champion any advantage.”
“I’m a fighter,” states Raul. “I usually go into a fight with some kind of injury or some physical ailment. If I were to go into a big fight without any discomfort, I would think that something was terribly wrong.”
A spokesperson for Top Rank Promotions stated that the 29 year old fighter didn’t surrender his position as the IBF mandatory opponent for Cristian Mijares by backing out of the fight due to injury. As soon as Raul is healthy enough to fight, he will receive his well deserved championship opportunity.
“That’s the only reason why I didn’t go through with the fight,” declares Martinez. “The doctors have told me that I can start fighting again in a couple of months. I want to get in the ring with Mijares as soon as possible.”
Martinez plans on staying in fight shape the entire time leading up to IBF title fight and remains focused on his opponent.
“I want to be 100% going into the fight with Cristian Mijares,” declares Martinez. “My preparation was great for this fight and I trained for the best version of Mijares. This setback is only temporary and I will soon become the new IBF Super Flyweight Champion of the world.”