Review: 2014-04-23, tremendous exchanges, very high pace, three knockdowns: this toe-to-toe battle between Kiko Martinez and Hozumi Hasegawa is definitely one of the best boxing fights of 2014 and it gets four stars. Kiko Martinez entered this fight with a pro boxing record of 30-4-0 (22 knockouts) and he is ranked as the No.3 super bantamweight in the world, he fought four times in 2013 losing only his first bout against Carl Frampton in February (=Frampton vs Martinez) but in August he managed to defeat Jhonatan Romero winning the Ibf super-Bw belt (=Romero vs Martinez), after this fight he successfully defended the title once against Jeffrey Mathebula (=Martinez vs Mathebula).
His opponent, Hozumi Hasegawa, has a record of 33-4-0 (15 knockouts) and he entered as the No.24 in the same weight class (currently the #1 in this division is Guillermo Rigondeaux). Hasegawa has won world titles in two different weight classes but his last world title fight was in 2011 and he lost to Jhonny Gonzalez (=Gonzalez vs Hasegawa), since then he has collected four consecutive wins. Martinez vs Hasegawa is valid for the IBF super bantamweight title (Martinez’s second defense); undercard of Shinsuke Yamanaka vs Stephane Jamoye. Watch the video and rate this fight!
Date: 2014-04-23
Where: Castle Hall, Osaka, Japan
Division: super bantamweight (122 lbs, 55.3 kg)
Title: IBF super bantamweight title
Martinez’s previous fight: Kiko Martinez vs Jeffrey Mathebula
Hasegawa’s previous fight: Hozumi Hasegawa vs Genaro Camargo
Martinez’s next fight: Kiko Martinez vs Carl Frampton 2
Hasegawa’s next fight: Hozumi Hasegawa vs Horacio Garcia
Video: (Free embeddable video hosted on Youtube and not uploaded by AllTheBestFights, to report it please visit this link where the video is hosted)
I don’t think I’ve seen a boxer help another back to the corner after a stoppage. Pair of gutsy sluggers, these two, long on swinging which doesn’t leave much time for defense.