Kiko Martinez shocks Kid Galahad, proves hanging around beats hanging them up

Boxing fans, including the writers, don’t know what to think. There’s not much to guide us in terms of universal patterns, only thoughtful axioms and general rules of thumb. We get a “Tale of the Tape”, but what does that really teach us when “Styles make fights”? We are often told “A good big fighter beats a good little fighter” and “Youth can prevail over experience”, but still must calculate in a whole slew of factors before making a sound pick in a head-to-head boxing match.

And that’s just on a single night.

When examining a fighter’s entire body of work and where they stand in the current state of the game becomes even more complex. We can all recall some fighters being totally washed-up by their late twenties and others winning a world Title in their late thirties or even forties.

Fight logic is helpful, but hardly conclusive. How many fighters’ retirements have we clamoured for their in the best interest of their health? If George Foreman listened to this type of logic following his 1992 war with Alex Stewart or his 1993 domination by Tommy Morrison, the world would never have witnessed, arguably, the greatest comeback in sporting history when he rallied to knockout Michael Moorer to regain the world heavyweight title in 1994. Bernard Hopkins followed up late-career defeats to Joe Calzaghe and Chad Dawson with big victories over Kelly Pavlik, Jean Pascal and Tavoris Cloud well into his forties.

Kiko Martinez is nobody’s Foreman or Hopkins, but he is one of the finest fighters to ever come out of Spain, which has had a laudable couple of months in the sport of boxing. Martinez’ upset sixth-round stoppage over Kid Galahad will rate among 2021’s best upsets. It also positions the 35-year-old veteran back in the mix near the top of the featherweight division many years after it was reasonable to suggest the Comunidad Valenciana native hang up the gloves forever.

In 2015, Martinez suffered his quickest defeat as a professional when Scott Quigg put on a power display to hammer the Spaniard to the canvas twice. Although Martinez rose and wanted to continue, the action ended then and there. Martinez remained active at the club level, but soon saw himself down and stopped standing in five rounds against Leo Santa Cruz just seven months later. He followed that up with a draw against journeyman Eusebio Osejo later in 2016. Josh Warrington decisioned him in 2017 before Gary Russell Jr made his annual appearance, stopping him easily in five rounds on the advice of the doctor due to a cut.

Long past it seemed were the days when Martinez, always a road warrior, trounced Bernard Dunne or went to war with Carl Frampton in Belfast. Back then, the Spaniard could rebound and hand losses to the likes of Jeffrey Mathebula and Hozumi Hasegawa.

Following the nail in his coffin against Russell Jr, Kiko Martinez went back to work in Spain and stayed as active as he could during the pandemic. Opportunity arose north at 130lbs against Manchester’s Zelfa Barrett, a prospect in good need of some resume building off a familiar scalp. Without harping too much on the scoring, Martinez appeared to take the younger man to school on the inside and teach the youngster to always stick to his gameplan and strengths. The scorecards spared Barrett a healthy setback, but proved the Spaniard had something left in his tank. Enough so that when Martinez was named as the opponent for Kid Galahad, he no longer appeared to be a fighter who needed to be saved from himself. An underdog for sure, possibly on his last leg, but a healthy leg at that.

Although Martinez lost the first four-and-three-quarter rounds obviously, he never appeared impotent as he had against Russell or Santa Cruz; styles make fights, remember. As he did against Barrett, Martinez looked to be setting some traps for the younger Galahad. Then, boom! A right hand sent Galahad to the canvas hard, but time was on his side as the bell was only moments away from ending the fifth. The minute between rounds prompted one to wonder if Galahad was saved and would come out for the sixth fully recovered or still buzzed from the blow. Martinez didn’t delay and flattened Galahad with the first punch of the sixth to end it.

Kiko Martinez, 43-10-2 (30), is now resurgent off of what can arguably be labeled his career-best victory in terms of significance. In the last five years, he’s had plenty of opportunity, going 8-4-2, but not enough reason to take off the gloves permanently. What a shame it would be if he had!

Martinez is hardly alone out there of course.

The very same night, Gabriel Rosado received another high-profile opportunity, this time to battle Jaime Munguia. Taking Munguia’s unbeaten record would have been career defining for Rosado, who, also at 35, is a less-than-spectacular 4-5-1 over the last five years. However, mostly, Rosado has been game. If how you win is important, the converse measure of how you lose is also imperative. Rosado mostly loses well. That’s why all it took for him to secure this opportunity was a third-round stoppage over Bektemir Melikuziev, who had never faced an opponent the calibre of Rosado in his seven fights. Rosado endured. Lose to Martin Murray, beat Glen Tapia; draw with Luis Arias, rally to almost stop Maciej Sulecki before losing on points; hang close with Daniel Jacobs, smash Melikuziev.

Rosado, 26-14-1 (15), sounded despondent after losing on points to Munguia. It was a war, but not one that was close on points. Rosado could hang them up and earn more money and celebrity than his achievements every warranted, but his will to fight and ability to entertain will surely provide another opportunity for him to come closer to being a Cinderella Man or Rocky.

Rosado’s recent opportunity is behind him, but another plugger in Dereck Chisora, 37, has a December 18 rematch date with Joseph Parker. How many times has it appeared fitting to dismiss Chisora for the last time? However, the man craves, as his moniker suggests, “War”, and losing in style has been the highlight of his career as much as stopping the contenders he chooses to rebuild against. Five of his 11 defeats have had the judges divided. The imagination does not have to stretch far to envision his dossier with victories over Robert Helenius, Kubrat Pulev, Dillian Whyte and Parker. Yet, he is 8-6 over the last five years.

Avenging the loss to Parker would allow Chisora to rebound right back into the top 10 of the division and make room for a rubber match or another big name. Like Rosado, Chisora has fought the best, but he’s actually been able to defeat a higher calibre of contender. The post-fight Chisora is more about sharing the glory of battle and a local sandwich with his opponents, so he may have the will to make it to age 40 with his gloves still on. Chisora, 32-11 (23), is an entertainer, and although he surely would love a boxing title, he doesn’t need one to continue to make money and go to war on a big stage.

Regardless of what they future holds, I am really glad Kiko Martinez, Gabriel Rosado and Dereck Chisora have opted to stick around the ‘Hurt Game’.