Boxing: No One Should Look Past WBO Super Featherweight Champ Roman Martinez

Roman “Rocky” Martinez can deal with it. Actually, he prefers it. He knows he has always done it with persistence. The Puerto Rican veteran was still in high school when he had his first pro bout, and 15 years later, he remains formidable. So go ahead and look by him. Doubt him. It won’t be the first time.

Martinez is a fighter that sneaks up on you, thinking he hasn’t done much throughout his career. Then you take a look at the resume and see he has beaten Daniel Attah, Miguel Beltran Jr. and Orlando Salido. You see he has never avoided anyone, either, going to England to fight Ricky Burns and taking on Mikey Garcia. So it’s no wonder that when Nicholas Walters wavered and other opponents showed they wanted no part of Vasyl Lomachenko (5-1, 3 KOs), Martinez (29-2-3, 17 KOs) stepped forward. He will put his WBO super featherweight title on the line against Lomachenko this Saturday on HBO at the Madison Square Garden Theater in New York.

It’s interesting to note that not many give Martinez a chance. One element to this fight remains certain: Fans will see action, because that’s all Martinez is about. He’ll keep coming forward and coming forward, and it’s that resilience that enabled him to last so long in this hardscrabble boxing game. Just ask Salido, who ironically holds the only victory over Lomachenko in the Ukrainian’s brief pro career. Martinez withstood Salido’s relentless attack in their second fight, absorbing shots that probably would have stopped a less-stubborn fighter. Though the fight ended in a split draw in September, many thought Martinez, 33, was fortunate to retain the WBO belt, which kept him in the running for a fight with Lomachenko.

Martinez has some compensating to do. Most experts deemed the split draw in the second Salido fight as a gift. No one, however, will question Martinez’s grit and the fact that he throws punches in volume, though he will be at sizable speed and technique disadvantage against Lomachenko. That really doesn’t matter to Martinez.

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Even though it has been almost two years since Martinez stopped anyone, he did have the rugged Salido down twice in their first fight -- a fight he won via unanimous decision on April 11, 2015 to take the WBO belt. He had Garcia down for the first and only time in his undefeated career, landing a counter right to the chin. It’s that kind of quick power Lomachenko better beware of against the crafty vet. What’s more, Lomachenko will be facing a healthy and rested Martinez, who still has quite a bit left to shock the world.

Joseph Santoliquito is the president of the Boxing Writer's Association of America and a frequent contributor to Sherdog.com's mixed martial arts and boxing coverage. His archive can be found here.