Kiko Martinez vs Josh Warrington 2 – Repeat or revenge?
Pressure fighter Kiko Martinez (43-10-2, 30KOs) meets volume puncher Josh Warrington (30-1-1, 7KOs) for a second time on March 26 at the First Direct Arena in Leeds, live on DAZN.
The difference this time is that the Spaniard comes into the fight as the defending champion with the home fighter in an unfamiliar position as the challenger – a complete reversal from their first meeting in 2017.
36-year-old ‘La Sensacion’ will defend his IBF World featherweight title to the former holder of the belt known as the ‘Leeds Warrior’.
Almost five years and 17 fights have passed between them since their first encounter, but will it be repeat or revenge in this return rendezvous? Find out what BBN Editor Tim Rickson thinks below:
First Fight
In their first meeting, back in May 2017, Josh Warrington was undefeated in 24 bouts and defending his WBC International featherweight belt for a third time.
Kiko started fast and aggressive, as always, coming forward in his hunched over style, throwing short hooks, but Warrington was a warrior throwing back, giving as good as he got, boxing on the backfoot.
They fought toe-to-toe for the first three rounds until Warrington began to pick him off from the fourth onwards, but Kiko’s aggression was unrelenting throughout. They threw in equal measures, but Josh was managing to catch quite a few on the gloves and his fast hands appeared to be more eye-catching, which is what gave him the slight edge on the scorecards, of which one judge ruled a draw.
Warrington’s power did not affect Martinez for the duration of the 12 rounds. Both fighters landed a lot of shots on each other, but Warrington’s right hand couldn’t hurt Martinez and there were even a few backhand uppercuts that travelled a long way to their target and still caused no apparent damage. Martinez’s short hooks to the head and body also could not hinder the home fighter, but they did appear to be more potent.
Defeats
Warrington found his nemesis in his 31st fight in the form of meddling Mexican, Mauricio Lara, who has 17 knockouts from 24 victories. It was unfamiliar circumstances for the popular Yorkshireman with the fight taking place behind closed doors, which takes away an advantage as a man who has fought in his home city well over a dozen times. The camera crew and behind the scenes staff all wore Leeds United FC shirts to try to assimilate his passionate support in a compressed form, but it failed to help him, and he took a heavy beating from the unknown opponent.
He took the rematch in a brave gesture to redeem himself and was the first to land strongly with a good right hand, but he was much more guarded and wary of his opponent’s power. He likely took the first round, but in the second stanza a clash of heads caused a giant cut on Lara’s right eye. He immediately responded with a right hook to the body which knocked Warrington off-balance and every shot from thereon was thudding off Warrington with a sickening sound. There would be no way that he could stand up to those shots for long, and he was saved by the fight being waved off before the third could start. It went down as a technical decision, but Warrington will do well to avoid the trilogy if he knows what’s best for him.
Martinez has 10 reverses on his record, but focusing on the stoppage defeats only, he has been halted by the very best in the world – elite level fighters such as Carl Frampton; Scott Quigg; Leo Santa Cruz; Gary Russell Jr; in that order.
He lost to Rendall Munroe twice, back in 2008 and 2009, both times in European super-bantamweight battles in England. His record against Brits is currently 3-7.
Home Advantage
14,000 fans are going to be screaming for just one of these fighters, which will surely make every punch for Warrington count. His only loss featured the absence of a crowd, so we know this passionate puncher loves a mob cheering him on.
As mentioned earlier, Kiko has only won three from 10 bouts with Brits, but he has been a bit unfairly treated on visits to these shores before.
Martinez was a real menace against Zelfa Barrett in February last year, buzzing the ‘Brown Flash’ many times, dominating the contest until the Mancunian came back strongly from round nine, but the wide UD scorecards for Barrett were an absolute disgrace to the Spanish guest.
Judging in the UK has rightfully come under scrutiny lately, so the three ringside officials will be mindful of this, but if it reaches the final bell, I suspect Warrington’s home advantage to come into play.
Shared Opponents
Kid Galahad is clearly the first name that will spring to mind in this scenario having lost to each of these fighters very recently.
Warrington was the first to inflict defeat on the stylish switch-hitter in his second world title defence in June 2019. After a very close contest, Josh succeeded on the scorecards on a split decision.
It was completely different when Kiko confronted Kid, who had claimed the vacant IBF crown on his second crack against former foe Jazza Dickens in August 2021. In his first defence, he clearly overlooked his challenger and paid the price in round six. The champion from Sheffield clearly had issues with his weight, but take nothing away from the challenger because he cleverly capitalised on his counterpart’s mistakes. The Spaniard was stunned in the first round, but he fired back in the second and got back on the front foot. However, he was getting tagged regularly, struggling to get past the Kid’s southpaw jab. Then Martinez landed an overhand right hook from hell in the fifth to floor Galahad completely. He was turning to his right, but it didn’t come from nowhere because Kiko landed two rights just before he added power to the big one. Head nowhere near clear, it took just one more touch from Martinez to KO Kid completely in the sixth.
Another common foe is Carl Frampton, who stopped Martinez during his meteoric rise in 2013, then outpointed him after knocking him down in round five in 2014 at the peak of his powers. Against Warrington, a fading ‘Jackal’ lost on points on his way down in 2018.
Betting Odds
Warrington is the slight favourite to repeat history at 5/4 with Betway, while Martinez is 7/2 to retain his title, and the odds for a draw is placed at 21/1.
Verdict
Taking nothing away from Martinez, Galahad was weight-drained in their fight and did dominate the first few rounds until the stoppage. He stunned Kiko twice but didn’t have the power to put him away. That said, Kiko saw the punch that would work and landed it with venom.
In the first fight between Warrington and Martinez, they were very closely matched, and I think the scorecards were spot on. It was extremely close, but Warrington just had the edge by a round or two.
This time, Warrington is the challenger so will need to work even harder to get the decision. The crowd could definitely help to get him over the line, which is what I think he will need to do – outwork Martinez to a points decision.
The champion will surely be going for the knockout, knowing that Warrington can be hurt and halted, plus coming into the contest off the back of a one-punch KO over another Brit.
Will Warrington be tentative and heavily guarded like he was in his last fight? Or will he get back to the aggressive, busy, confident fighter that reeled off three fine victories over Lee Selby, Carl Frampton and Kid Galahad?
I’m backing Josh to win on points.