Undefeated bantamweight contender Raul Martinez (21-0, 13 KOs) continued with his success, winning a grueling eight-round unanimous decision over journeyman fighter Alex Baba (26-12-1, 19 KOs) on Friday night at the Jacob Brown Auditorium, in Brownsville, Texas. Martinez, ranked #9th in the World Boxing Organization & World Boxing Association bantamweight division, had a little too much skill and youth for the 37 year-old Baba, though the fight ended up being perhaps more difficult than Martinez, 25, perhaps imagined going in. Martinez led through the opening rounds, but Baba, a fighter that never stops punching, seemed to wear Martinez down over the last four rounds, and made the fight competitive.
The final judges’ scores were 79-73, 78-74 and 78-74. However, I had the fight scored as a draw, as Baba seemed to give Martinez a lot of problems with his constant pressure, and seemed to be wearing him out near the end of the fight. In fact, Martinez, who generally comes forward all the time, started back up in the last two rounds of the fight, using mostly his jab to try and keep Baba off of him. It didn’t work, but it looked impressive, as Martinez threw double and triple jabs over and over again.
In the early going, Martinez displayed an awesome body attack, throwing hard left hooks to the body, putting everything he could into the shots. During this time, Martinez was effective and keeping Baba off of him due to the high number of heavy shots he was landing. However, in the 3rd round, Baba began stepping it up, walking through Martinez’s punches to get off his own at close quarters. Once he got inside, Baba remained there, both fighters trading shots continuously for the remainder of the round. Though Baba may have been out-landed by a slight margin, his punches seemed to have more an effect on Martinez, as he was getting moved by the punches.
In rounds four and five, Martinez began landing some crushing body shots, which seemed to get the crowd into the fight. Each time Martinez would land a left hook to the body, the crowd would shout approval. It almost appeared like Martinez was working a heavy bag, as he landed his left hook over and over again, hitting Baba with a loud crash each time. At the end of the fifth round, however, Baba opened up with a flurry of head shots that made the round close at the end. From there on out, Baba seemed to step it up a gear, as he never stopped punching from that point on, hitting Martinez without stop with a constant rain of punches.
Originally from Ghana, Baba seemed to be too much for the young Martinez to handle in rounds six through eight. Finally, as if to show surrender, Martinez began staying on the outside in rounds seven and eight, jabbing Baba and trying to avoid getting hit by him. Though Martinez showed a good jab during this time, it wasn’t a match for Baba’s combination punching, as he continuously let his hands go and landed well.
In the end, as I mentioned earlier, I scored the fight a draw. Martinez just want ready for a fighter as advanced as Baba at this point of his young career. Baba may have a poor record at 26-12, but he fights much better than his record shows. His chin was nothing short of excellent, and his non-stop punching was something that Martinez had big problems with. If Baba had more power, he’d be a dangerous fighter, for he has a lot of good skills for someone as advanced in age as he is.