Kiko Martínez (44-11-2, 31 KO) continues to show his great courage and heart day after day. He will play a featherweight International Boxing Federation (IBF) world eliminator against Reiya Abe (24-3-1, 10 KO) this Saturday, April 8 in Japan. “Whoever loses, I’m leaving boxing, I no longer have a margin for error in the stage in which I am today. Making a mistake would be starting over and I don’t have time for that,” Kiko explained to AS. The man from Elche has already arrived in the Asian country with his coach Gabi Sarmiento, and on Thursday Ricardo Sánchez Atocha will join them. The fight can be followed live through DAZN.
The Sensation continues to excite the Spanish boxing fans. His defeat against Josh Warrington (31-2-1, 8 KO) left him emotionally and physically touched. He lost his World Cup in March in a more than questionable way. The Briton hit several headers that ended in 12 stitches for the Spaniard. The referee, also English, stopped the fight in the seventh round. Warrington controversially took the belt, but also walked away with a broken jaw. Kiko moved away from the ring for a few months, and even considered withdrawing. But that was not the way he wanted to say goodbye to boxing, not with a fight unfairly taken out of his hands.
In October he returned to the charge. He faced Jordan Gill (27-2-1, 8 KOs) for the European featherweight title at Wembley, taking the belt via fourth-round TKO. The superiority of the man from Elche was so evident that the English corner threw in the towel. Kiko came back and did it big. He showed that he is still in top form and that he can become world champion again. And that is his goal, to put on his seatbelt again.
It is not the first time that the Spaniard steps on Japan. Kiko faced local fighter Hozumi Hasegawa (36-5-0, 16 KO) in 2014, in one of his IBF super bantamweight title defenses. He won via seventh-round TKO in Osaka, and appreciates how well he was treated there. His opponent, Reiya Abe, is division champion in his countryand finds the fifth in the featherweight ranking (Kiko is in the second). She has never fought away from home, unlike the Sensationwho has had no qualms about traveling to compete.
Kiko is preparing very hard, and is already in Japan finishing the preparation. The winner of the match will be the official challenger for the belt, which is currently in the hands of the Mexican Luis Alberto Deer Lopez (27-2-0, 15 KOs). He will make his first defense of the belt he took from Warrington on May 27 in Belfast against Michael Conlan (18-1-0, 9 KOs). Golden opportunity for the man from Elche, who continues to give his all day after day.