By Brian Argabright
The 830 Times
It was a successful pro debut for Del Rio’s “Panterita” Martinez.
Jesus “Panterita” Martinez (1-0) defeated Daniel Nuñez Gomez (1-2) by unanimous decision Friday night in Martinez’s professional debut in Guadalajara, Mexico as part of the Matchroom series on DAZN.
Martinez, 17, controlled the fight from the first round on, nearly recording a knockout in the first two rounds despite an 11-year age difference between he and Nuñez Gomez.
Fighting at 118 pounds in the bantamweight division, Martinez was the focus of much of the pre-fight discussion. He was picked as the fighter to watch on the undercard and was described as a viral sensation after one of his knockouts wound up on Instagram and helped him get signed to International Sports Group, founded by former world champion Joe Calzaghe and former middleweight champion Darren Barker. Both of them were at ringside during the fight, cheering their fighter on.
Sporting a rat tail hairstyle inspired by former world champion Kostya Zu, Martinez came out firing in the first round, rocking Nuñez Gomez with a big right hand early. While it didn’t send him down immediately, Nuñez Gomez seemed to slip and have to hold onto Martinez to avoid the knockdown.
Midway through the round, back-to-back rights knocked Nuñez Gomez to the canvas.
While ringside announcers felt Nuñez Gomez wouldn’t survive the first round after Martinez’s volley, the former MMA fighter was able to avoid any more major damage and held on to finish the round.
“I just wanted to set up shots until I saw an opening and boom there it was … I caught him twice in that first round I believe and he went down both times,” Martinez said after the fight when describing his knocking down of Nuñez Gomez in the first round.
The second round was more of the same for Martinez as he connected with a counter right to stun Nuñez Gomez. A flurry of punches a short time later forced Nuñez Gomez to tie up Martinez, but when the two fighters separated Martinez landed another left followed by another flurry of punches.
Martinez added an exclamation point to the second round with a big right to Nuñez Gomez’s head with about 10 seconds left.
Nuñez Gomez appeared to be more aggressive in the third round, perhaps aware he was behind on the judges’ cards. Martinez didn’t show his aggression in the third, instead appearing to lure Nuñez Gomez into a counter trap, but the older fighter didn’t give Martinez that opportunity and avoided the big punches that hurt him early on.
Martinez returned to form in the fourth round, landing a big right early on. He used a combination to land a glancing blow to Nuñez Gomez’s head, but focused much of the round to working on the body.
At times Nuñez Gomez appeared to try and rally to catch Martinez on the cards, but Martinez’s counter punches kept Nuñez Gomez honest and forced the two fighters to tie up often in the round and kill whatever momentum Nuñez Gomez may had built up.
When the unanimous decision victory was announced, Martinez smiled and joined his trainers and promoters in victory.
A 14-time amateur champion, with a career record of 137-9, Martinez entered the fight after training in California. He credited his camp, his trainers and his promoters on his success
Barker was asked after the fight if he was nervous watching Martinez work. Laughing, Barker explained he saw a lot of himself in the Del Rio teen.
“The reason I’m so nervous is this means everything to this young man. He’s given his life … I mean 17 years old … this is everything to him. He reminds me of myself … boxing with my life … just so eager for him to get the victory. You can see how happy he is. This kid’s gonna go far and how he carries that power at 17 years old I have no idea,” Barker said.
Martinez was then asked when his next fight was scheduled. He said that was up to his management team, but he issued a promise to those watching him in his debut.
“You haven’t seen nothing yet. I don’t wanna sound arrogant or anything but you haven’t seen nothing yet. There’s so much more left to me,” Martinez said.
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Contact the author at drnhsports@gmail.com
