Frampton-Martinez: Carl will get his first taste of raw power on February 9th

By Boxing News - 01/13/2013 - Comments

frampton342By Scott Gilfoid: 25-year-old Carl Frampton (15-0, 10 KO’s) will get his first taste of power on February 9th in his title challenge against EBU super middleweight champion Kiko Martinez (27-3, 19 KO’s) at the Oddyssey Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

This is going to be interesting to see how Frampton responds to being on the receiving end of some big power shots instead of being the one dishing it out in his fights against lesser opposition. Martinez is a big step up from the fodder that Frampton has been fighting thus far, although Kiko is still hardly a great fighter.

I don’t have him ranked in the top 20 in the division. To me, he’s more of a bottom 40 fighter, but that’s still a HUGE leap up from the guys that Frampton has been facing during his four year pro career. He’s fought a lot of domestic level opposition such as Kris Hughes, Prosper Ankrah, Robbie Turley, Gavin Reid, and Ian Bailey.

Martinez has skills and he’s got power. He’s going to be testing Frampton’s chin in this fight and I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if he fails that test. That’s the way it is when you’re matching guys softly at the start of their careers. They look unbeatable and you figure they’ll never get beat no matter who they face, but as soon as they face someone good, they all completely apart and get stopped. Will that happen to Frampton, #10 IBF, on February 9th? I have a strong feeling it will.

Martinez has been unbeatable in the last four years, defeating the likes of Arsen Martirorsyan, Jason Booth and Dougie Curran. He’s shown some great skills and decent power. Martinez isn’t a huge puncher but he can light you up if he hits you just right with one of his big shots.

The undercard has some names but not much in the way of competitive action. The recently knocked out middleweight Andy Lee will be on the card against Andy Fitzgerald. This is a major step backwards for Lee because he’d been facing quality world level opposition before this. Also on the card is featherweight Lee Selby fighting Martin Lindsay.



Comments are closed.