By Brian Argabright
The 830 Times
Jesus “Panterita” Martinez is still undefeated as pro, but his second win didn’t come easy.
Fighting in front of a friendly crowd that cheered his every move from his introduction to the announcement of the fight’s decision, Martinez (2-0) defeated Keven “Trouble” Monroy (1-3, 1 KO) by majority decision Saturday afternoon at the Tech Port Center and Arena in San Antonio.
He also suffered the first knockdown of his professional career, but he was able to bounce back and do what needed to be done to earn the decision.
Martinez was judged the better fighter on two of the judge’s cards. The third judge ruled the fight a draw, and that led to the majority decision win for Martinez. When the decision was announced, Monroy stepped in front of Martinez and looked at the camera, shocked, before flipping off viewers and being ushered out of the shot by Martinez.
The fight started off well for Martinez as he used his speed and skill to avoid Monroy’s punches and force the 22-year-old to try and fight through his guard. Martinez was able to land big punches, including a counter right early on and a pair of big right hands midway through the fight, but he was also tagged with a left late in the round.
Martinez’s guard remained strong in the second round and helped set up some strong counter punches. That strong defense, though, led to Martinez opening up his arsenal of punches.
Martinez was able to deliver a stiff right and follow that up with a dizzying combination of punches. He connected with another stiff right hook and then surprised Monroy with a left hook. The flurry of punches kept Monroy off balance as he wildly threw punches trying to counter.
Near the end of the round Martinez got caught with a punch to the body, but then Monroy followed with a blow to the back of Martinez’s head, drawing a warning from the referee as the round came to an end.
In the third round Martinez ran into trouble.
After starting the round well with a strong overhand right and then a left to Monroy’s head, Martinez ducked to avoid a Monroy combo, but Monroy quickly threw a short left uppercut that caught Martinez off balance and sent him to the canvas, butt first, for the first time as a pro. Martinez quickly hopped back up to his feet and looked ready to fight before the round came to an end.
With Martinez needing to reestablish his dominance, and Monroy needing a big finish to steal a win, the two fighters came out swinging in the fourth round. Both Martinez and Monroy threw punches in bunches, trying to find that next knock down or a knockout to earn the win.
But as the fight wore on, fatigue began to set in for both fighters, as they appeared to almost punch themselves out. Martinez was able to land another strong right, but he could not follow up with another big punch. In the final 30 seconds both fighters let their fists fly, but as the final bell sounded the decision was still unclear.
While Monroy had not fought since 2021, nearly one year to the day of his fight against Martinez, “Panterita” was taking part in his second fight in 15 days. Those schedules weighed on both fighters, even if Martinez was fighting just 150 miles east of his hometown of Del Rio.
After the fight, Martinez spoke about his first knock down and how that affected him going forward.
“I knew that round was going to him. (The knockdown) wasn’t nothing … just a little stumble. I gave it my all in the fourth round and showed the dog in me, the big heart in me,” Martinez said. “We knew he was going to come out guns blazing due to the knockdown but he didn’t hurt me at all.”
Martinez credited his win to his training, especially the work he put in with Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, who was fighting in the main event of Saturday’s Matchroom Boxing card in San Antonio.
“I liked that I could show more of my boxing. (Monroy) was a tough guy. He took a lot of shots, so I was able to show a lot of my boxing skills,” Martinez said. “I wasn’t worried, though. I put in so much hard work, put in hard work with a world champion in Jess Rodriguez, so I knew all that was going to pay off.”
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Contact the author at drnhsports@gmail.com
