Push Admin

Boxing: Unbeaten Martinez stops Bornea to keep junior bantamweight title

Article (news)

Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Argentine boxer Fernando Martinez. Esther Lin / SHOWTIME" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/overseas/06/25/martinez.jpg"/><figcaption>Argentine boxer Fernando Martinez. Esther Lin / SHOWTIME</figcaption></figure></div>WASHINGTON -- Argentina&#x27;s Fernando Martinez retained his IBF world junior bantamweight title on Saturday with an 11th-round stoppage of Filipino challenger Jade Bornea in a battle of unbeatens at Minneapolis, Minnesota.Referee Charlie Fitch stopped the bout 29 seconds into the 11th round after Martinez opened a bloody gash on the right ear of Bornea early in the ninth.&quot;I definitely saw the injury in the ear,&quot; Martinez said through a translator. &quot;I hit it with a left and it popped, it exploded. I just kept going at the ear and that&#x27;s what ended this fight.&quot;Martinez improved to 16-0 with his ninth victory inside the distance while Bornea fell to 18-1 after dropping his first world title bout.&quot;The training camp we had was brutal. It was great,&quot; Martinez said. &quot;The stronger fighter won and it was me.&quot;It was the South American&#x27;s second defense of the 115-pound division crown he captured 16 months ago from Philippines fighter Jerwin Ancajas and kept in a rematch last October, both wins by unanimous decision.Bornea, 28, went to a southpaw stance at the start against Martinez as they traded combinations going toe to toe in the early rounds.Martinez, 31, landed a hard left in the fifth round but a clash of heads denied him a chance to press the advantage.Early in the ninth round, a left hook by Martinez exploded Bornea&#x27;s right earlobe. Blood splattered and gushed down Bornea&#x27;s neck but he made it through the round and told Fitch he wanted to continue.Martinez landed a flurry at the end of the 10th round and attacked Bornea&#x27;s face early in the 11th before Fitch halted the contest.<div>© Agence France-Presse</div>

Argentina's Fernando Martinez retained his IBF world junior bantamweight title on Saturday with an 11th-round stoppage of Filipino challenger Jade Bornea.