By Elliot Worsell
THIS time last year Spain’s Sandor Martin had no option but to console himself with the praise of others having dropped and seemingly outboxed Teofimo Lopez only to wind up on the wrong end of a split decision at Madison Square Garden. To remember it now, his stock around that time, despite the loss, had never been higher. Better yet, his sleep, something vital to any boxer, had never been better.
Twelve months on, however, having fought just once since then, and having welcomed his first daughter in May, everything has changed for Martin. Now, in 2023, he has had to come to terms with not only having an extra incentive to fight, but also a new way of living; sleepless nights, additional concerns, a surrendering of his own selfishness.
“I experienced a lot of change when I became a father and I need to put everything in order to move forward as a boxer,” Martin told Boxing News this week. “Now it is a good moment for me because I feel like the best Sandor Martin. The last fight (in July) was so close to the birth of my daughter (on May 9) and it was hard to have complete control over my preparation and dieting. The first 15 days (of being a new father) were horrible; a lot of changes. I didn’t understand anything. I had no sleep. It’s a little thing, but for me it’s so important. If you don’t sleep correctly, and train correctly, you won’t fight correctly.
“Now I’m sleeping better, eating better, and training better. For this reason I have good vibes now and more reasons to fight. Before I was fighting for just me, my legacy, my name, my dreams. But now I have another reason: my family; our future. I need to become world champion and be in a position to support my family.”
Currently 41-3 (14) as a pro, Martin returns to the ring this Saturday (December 16) in Torino, Italy, where he will fight Mohamed El Marcouchi over eight rounds. On paper, it would appear a routine affair, and has presumably been designed as such, yet Martin, 30, knows that sometimes the routine affairs can become the ones most problematic, particularly when there is a great deal at stake in the future.
In this instance, he is aware that should he come away unscathed this weekend there is every chance he will be next in line to fight Devin Haney, the WBC’s newly crowned champion at super-lightweight. Martin, after all, is presently ranked at number one with that sanctioning body and would therefore expect, all being well on Saturday, to share a ring with the American in the first quarter of 2024.
“It will happen when the teams start to negotiate, but maybe March,” Martin said. “He fought in December, and I’m about to fight in December, so March would make sense. If not March, maybe April, May, or even June. When he’s ready, I’m ready for it.”
On Saturday’s evidence, Haney is certainly ready; that is, he is ready not only for Martin but most fighters in the super-lightweight division. Imperious at times during a 12-round domination of Regis Prograis, the former champion, Haney is a fighter getting better and better and still only 25 years of age. He is also someone Martin happens to hold in the highest regard.
“It was an extraordinary performance,” Martin said of Haney’s win. “He is an incredible boxer and a world champion in two weight classes, which is so difficult. I respect him for this. He is only 25 years old. I was also once 25 and I now have five more years of experience on him. That’s an important point for me in a fight against Devin Haney. He has an incredible ring IQ and he dominated Prograis in all the skills of boxing: defence, movement, offensive action. He is an intelligent fighter and him and his father, Bill, did excellent work. I respect them for that. But the fight with me is a different fight. I am not Prograis and I am not (Vasiliy) Lomachenko. I am Sandor Martin.”
And yet, because of this, because he is Sandor Martin, there is every possibility Devin Haney may look to avoid fighting him in 2024. This won’t be due to fear on Haney’s part, rest assured, but there is certainly a feeling that “The Dream”, the talk of boxing at the moment, will have at least half an eye on American rivals – Gervonta Davis being one of them – against whom he stands to make life-changing money.
“I understand the business of boxing and maybe he has more interesting fights for his economy,” conceded Martin. “But the WBC ordered a fight between us for one reason. If he wants to be challenged, physically and mentally, he needs this fight with me. Any other boxer at 140 pounds cannot put Devin Haney in the same position as me. In our fight it would be IQ vs. IQ and my IQ is better than his. If you see the results in the career of Devin Haney, and the results in my career, you will see two boxers who outbox and dominate their opposition. All the scorecards are one-sided. That’s so important because it explains that we have good skills and a tremendous IQ in the ring. This would be like a game of chess in a boxing ring. It is the best chess match fans could hope to see.”
More than simply a former European champion who has worked his way into a mandatory position, Martin has already proven his credentials at a world-class level. Indeed, aside from his performance against Lopez last December, he remains only one of two men – the other being Errol Spence Jnr – to defeat the excellent Mikey Garcia, someone who flourished in not one weight class but four.
“Mikey Garcia taught me things,” Martin recalled. “He is a tremendous boxer. People ask me, ‘Who is better, Mikey Garcia or Teofimo Lopez?’ and I always say the same: ‘Mikey Garcia.’ Mikey Garcia is two or three levels up. He is a more complete fighter. He is intelligent; punches hard. I respect them both: Teofimo is a two-weight world champion, which is so difficult to achieve, and Mikey Garcia won world titles in four weight classes. But Mikey Garcia was the better opponent.”
Even so, Lopez, last seen thrashing Josh Taylor in May, remains the last man to officially beat Martin in a ring. This is a result Martin would of course one day like to overturn, yet the Barcelona native is uncertain whether Lopez, who cut a dejected figure both during the fight and at its conclusion, would be quite so keen to meet again.
“For me, the problem in this fight was that I wasn’t my best version,” Martin said, “because the promoters called me only three weeks before the fight. I still think I dominated Teofimo, though. He looked dispirited during the fight and his father was shouting to him, ‘Son, you’re losing the fight! Box! Please box!’ He had the face of a loser in the ring at the end of the fight. I was so confident in my victory. But I think I have the level to beat him in another fight. I am at his level and am a real problem for him and other boxers at his level: Haney, Prograis, (Subriel) Matias, Teofimo (Lopez). I can fight anyone and I can beat anyone.
“I took a lot of confidence from my performance that night. I broke my nose in the first round and this had an impact on me. My trainer said to me in the seventh round, ‘Now you need to go to him and go to war,’ but, when I tried to go to war, it was impossible for me because of the problem with my nose. For this reason I had to move all the time and adopt a different style. That is my usual style, yes, but it was not what I desired in that fight. I knew I could do other things to Teofimo to show the fans I was a clear winner. I know I can do an even better version next time. I am so confident about that and Teofimo knows it, too.”
