IBF super flyweight champion Fernando ‘Pumita’ Martinez 16-0 (9) successfully defended his title for the second time with a bloody 11th round stoppage of Jade ‘Hurricane’ Bornea 18-1 (12) at The Armory in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Saturday night.
The 31-year-old Argentinean scored a surprise win over Jerwin Ancajas 34-3-2 (23) by unanimous points decision in Las Vegas, Nevada in February last year to lift the red belt from the Filipino southpaw and repeated the treatment eight month later. Ancajas had held the title for six years, making nine title defences.
Bornea, 28, of the Philippines was having his first world title tilt after being installed at he mandatory challenger to Martinez’ title.
The bout was hotly contested through the first eight rounds with both boxers abandoning their jabs in favour of power punches. The momentum of the fight changed dramatically in the ninth round when a left hook from Martinez busted Bornea’s right ear.
From then on the ear became a target. Blood ran down his jaw and one of the Showtime cameras was splattered in blood.
The fight was allowed to continue but referee Charlie Fitch kept a close eye on the injury. Eventually he decided he had seen enough, halting the contest at the 0:29 mark of the penultimate round.
“I definitely saw the injury in the ear,” said Martinez. “The inflammation was like nothing I’ve ever seen before. I hit him with a left and it popped, exploded. I even told the referee be cautious I think he’s really hurt.
“That’s when I just kept going at the ear and trying to finish this fight. I kept on going for blood like a shark on a mission.”
The scores at the time of the stoppage were 97-93 (Mike Fitzgerald), 98-92 (Jerry Jakubco) and 97-93 (Zachary Young).
The ear injury was as gruesome as you are likely to see.
“The first seven rounds were pretty even, but then I had the injury to my ear. It’s unfortunate, but it happens. I tried to keep fighting to the end,” said Bornea.
There are no shortage of big fights to be made at 115-pounds, which remains one of the deepest divisions in boxing. Just last night four-weight world champion Kazuto Ioka claimed the WBA strap from Joshua Franco by unanimous decision. Southpaw Junto Nakatani became the WBO boss with a 12th round knockout of Andrew Moloney for the vacant title last month.
The real kingpin of the division remains Juan Francisco Estrada, who is the WBC and Ring Magazine champion. Former multi-division champ Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez remains a tough out for anyone in the division.
Martinez says those are the types of fights he wants to make off the back of this victory.
“Enough is enough. I want to face the champions. We made it evident that we are very superior to the number one contender and now we want the truly big fights,” said Martinez.
