Mikey Garcia vs Rocky Martinez: Has Rocky's luck run out?

By Peter Wells (twitter- @boxingsaddler):

Martinez(left) & Garcia(right) face off ahead of tonight's clash

Sometimes being an unknown fighter to the casual fans can bring about its positives, just ask Roman 'Rocky' Martinez who has been involved in three straight contentious decisions. Yet Rocky has received none of the abuse that Timothy Bradley received after he was handed a very controversial split decision win against the idolised Manny Pacquiao. Its unlikely that Bradley ever begrudged Martinez but I'm pretty sure he felt somewhat angry that he was at the wrong end of a tirade of unsavoury messages for something he had no control over. Hard-core fans said exactly that, which is why the judges rather than the fighter were rightly at the centre of fans frustrations.

On Saturday night Mikey Garcia 32-0(27) will be hoping to emulate what Beltran Jr, Burgos and Magdelano were unfortunate in most peoples eyes not to do. But that's not to say that Martinez 27-1-2(16) didn't receive support suggesting he rightly won all three of those fights. They were all close for a start but it seemed that the general consensus was that Martinez is fortunate to still be the WBO Super Featherweight champion.

As for Garcia he had no such luck at Featherweight when he failed to make weight ahead of his contest with Juan Manuel Lopez(TKO 4), leaving the WBO to strip him of their title. Garcia took his frustrations out on a Lopez who has never quite been the same since he was exposed by Orlando Salido - Lopez is far from being the only fighter that Salido has exposed.

Outside of that demolition of Lopez, Garcia has built up quite an impressive resume including victories over; Matt Remillard(RTD 10), Bernabe Concepcion(TKO 7), Jonathan Victor Barros(TKO 8) and Orlando Salido(TD 8). Against Salido who has gone on to recapture his title Garcia floored the Mexican 4 times in a incredibly one-sided affair.



Moving up: Garcia(left) destroys Lopez but that was at the weight below

While Garcia is an adept boxer and big puncher, Martinez shares similar attributes as a hard puncher and a good boxer, and he has needed that versatility to record wins over the aforementioned Diego Magdelano(SD 12), Miguel Beltran Jr(SD 12) and a draw with Juan Carlos Burgos while also taking on; Nicky Cook (W TKO 4), Feider Viloria(W KO 9) and Gonzalo Munguia(W KO 4). His only defeat came at the hands of current WBO Lightweight champion Ricky Burns(L UD 12).

The styles of the two fighters makes for an interesting fight, with both showing one-punch power, excellent timing and good boxing skills. But the feeling is that Salido has the slight edge in all of those departments.

Garcia always looked big at Featherweight and even though he stands 2 inches shorter than Puerto Rican Martinez, the Californian has the bigger build. Martinez must try to disrupt Garcia's rhythm and not become predictable in his attack or defence.

The pick is for Martinez to start the brighter, working at a high pace, in an attempt to unnerve the challenger. As the fight enters the second half Garcia will begin to time Martinez as he comes in, landing hurtful shots while also keeping Martinez off balance. As the tempo drops the more Garcia will control the fight and he should be able to continue boxing neatly down the stretch to score a close but unanimous decision win.



Garza(left) is ready to challenge the unbeaten Walters(right)

To conclude a great night of boxing, WBA 'world' Featherweight champion Nicholas Walters of Jamaica defends against Alberto Garza 25-5-1(20).

Both fighters come in with reputations as big punchers but neither have any big names on those resumes. At 22-0(18) Walters best wins come against Daulis Prescott(TKO 7) and Irving Berry(TKO 6) while Garza's best wins are against Nery Saguilan(TKO 9) and Justin Savi(UD 12). But for Garza his five conquers are no world beaters and he has been halted three times, giving the impression that Walters has a chance to impress.

The pick is for Walters to control proceedings, but Garza will keep pushing the Jamaican hard before he finally succumbs inbetween rounds 7-9.