Unbeaten lightweight Ryan Martin has displayed punching power in recent fights, stopping his last two opponents before Friday’s return to the ring.
But he could also outbox fighters with much more experience as well.
That was the case Friday night as Martin won a one-sided 10-round decision over former fringe contender Marcos Jimenez at the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, Calif.
Martin improved to 19-0 with 11 knockouts. Jimenez dropped to 22-8 with 15 KOs.
The 2011 Central High School graduate was coming off an impressive eighth-round knockout victory over Bryant Cruz at Madison Square Garden in New York City on March 18.
Martin dominated the action from the opening bell Friday, using his athletic ability and quickness to outbox Jimenez. Martin spent the first half of the fight walking Jimenez down, ripping combinations to the head and body, but Jimenez did little to engage with Martin.
“(Jimenez) was a very defensive fighter,” Martin told the Times Free Press after the fight. “It was real challenging to get him to open up. He was very cagey.”
Martin attempted to entice Jimenez to open up, dropping his hands and standing in front of him, but Jimenez rarely initiated any exchanges.
All three judges scored the bout 100-90 in favor of Martin.
“I didn’t want the fight to go to a decision,” said Martin, who is co-trained by Joe Delguyd in Cleveland and Abel Sanchez at Big Bear Lake, Calif. “But my team and I were prepared to go the 10 rounds. It was something we knew going into this fight.
“Jimenez was tough and he showed a lot of heart, because I did land a lot of powerful punches on him.”
With the Jimenez fight now behind him, Martin will take time off to recover, before heading back to the gym.
“I’ll leave it up to my team as far as what’s next for me,” he said.
Manager Tim VanNewhouse is optimistic a big fight for Martin could be on the horizon.
“I think this fight was all about growth and development for Ryan. This was the first time Ryan went 10 full rounds,” VanNewhouse said. “Ryan will review this fight and make necessary adjustments.”
“As far as what’s next, we hope Ryan could fight on the (Saul) ‘Canelo’ (Alvarez)-(Gennady) Golovkin fight on Sept. 16.”
The Martin-Jimenez fight was to open a live ESPN2 broadcast at 10 p.m. EDT, but the excessive heat outside likely burned a transformer inside a production truck. The high in Indio on Friday was 108 degrees.
ESPN2 wound up televising only the main event bout between bantamweights Oscar Negrete of Colombia and Sergio Frias of Mexico.
Francisco A. Salazar can be reached at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing.