Kiko Martinez vs. Jeffrey Mathebula this Saturday, December 21st in Spain

By Allan Fox: This Saturday night IBF super bantamweight champion Kiko Martinez (29-4, 21 KO’s) will be making his first defense of his IBF title against #1 IBF Jeffrey Mathebula (27-4-2, 14 KO’s) at the Pabellon Esperanza Lag, Elche, Comunidad Valenciana, Spain.

Martinez, 27, captured the title last August in stopping IBF champion Jhonatan Romero in the 6th round in Atlantic City, New Jersey. It was an impressive slugging performance by Martinez, as he went after Romero from the start and battered him around the ring round after round until the fight was ultimately halted in the 6th round.

Martinez has won two consecutive fights since being stopped in the 9th round by Carl Frampton last February. Incidentally, Frampton is hoping to fight the winner of the Martinez-Mathebula fight. He likes the idea of facing one of these guys for the title rather than taking on the much tougher task of facing WBA/WBO super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux. That wouldn’t be such a good fight for Frampton because he doesn’t have the quickness to compete with the much faster Rigondeaux.

The 5’11” Mathebula previously held the IBF super bantamweight title after beating Takalani Ndovu by a 12 round split decision in March of 2012. Mathebula was beaten in his first title defense against WBO 122 lb. champion Nonito Donaire by a 12 round unanimous decision last year in July. Mathebula gave Donaire a lot of problems, but after suffering a broken jaw in the 4th round from a big left hook from Donaire, Mathebula wasn’t able to fight as effectively.

The 5’11” Mathebula will have a 6 inch height and a 5 inch reach advantage over the 5’5″ Martinez. Whether Mathebula will be able to use his size advantage remains to be seen. Martinez is really good at getting on the inside and he hits very hard. Mathebula isn’t a big puncher, and he might have a hard time trying to keep Martinez on the outside where he can’t land his big shots. If Mathebula can’t keep Martinez away from him then this could end up being a very hard fight for him.