| Kiko Martínez | |
| Nickname: | La Sensación ("The Sensation") |
| Weight: | |
| Height: | 165 cm |
| Reach: | 168 cm |
| Birth Date: | 7 March 1986 |
| Birth Place: | Elche, Baix Vinalopó, Alicante, Spain |
| Style: | Orthodox |
| Total: | 58 |
| Wins: | 44 |
| Ko: | 31 |
| Losses: | 12 |
| Draws: | 2 |
Francisco "Kiko" Martínez Sánchez (born 7 March 1986) is a Spanish former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2023. He was a world champion in two weight classes, holding the IBF super-bantamweight title from 2013 to 2014, and the IBF featherweight title from 2021 to 2022. At regional level, he held the European super-bantamweight title three times between 2007 and 2013, and the European featherweight title in 2018.
Martínez fought extensively as an amateur. He fought 40 amateur bouts and never lost, with 38 of those victories being by knockout. Martinez stated that he "could have gone to the Olympics – the Spanish amateur boxing association wanted me to sign a four-year contract but I wanted to turn professional".[1]
Martínez turned professional on 11 June 2004, defeating David Casero by knockout in the third round on a card that included Javier Castillejo.[2]
Martínez went on to win all of his first 11 fights with each victory coming via a knockout within four rounds.[2]
On 10 March 2006, Martínez faced Frenchman Salem Bouaita for his EBU European Union super bantamweight title at Pabellón de Elche in Spain. This was Martinez's first fight which went past four rounds and the fight went the full scheduled 10 rounds. Martínez was given a unanimous points win and won the title.
Martínez won a further four fights and became the mandatory challenger European super bantamweight title.[2]
The EBU made Martinez the mandatory challenger for Irish fighter, Bernard Dunne's European super bantamweight title.
Martínez and Dunne clashed on 25 August 2007 at the Point Theatre, Dublin, Ireland. This was Martinez's first fight outside of Spain and despite being the challenger he was confident of victory. Martinez stated before the fight that he "might be a little shorter than Bernard but I'm 5 foot 4 inches of a headache for him".[2] [1]
On the night of the fight the Point Depot filled with expectant Irish boxing fans and the fight was beamed live on RTÉ, the Irish national television broadcaster. The fight started with Dunne keeping his guard low and circling Martínez. However, Martínez quickly had Dunne on the canvas with an overhand right. Dunne appeared stunned and unaware of what had happened. Dunne beat the count but was floored twice more before the referee stopped the fight within only 90 seconds of round one.[3] [4] [5] [6]
The Martínez camp stated that they knew there would be a first round victory and that many of them had placed bets worth thousands of pounds with Irish bookmakers at odds of 66/1 that Martínez would win in the first round.[4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Martínez had signed to fight another Irishman, the Las Vegas-based former WBC bantamweight champion, Wayne McCullough at Belfast's Kings Hall on 1 December 2007.[8]
McCullough had not fought for over two years and the Kings Hall venue was sold out for the fight. It was agreed that the non-title fight would take place at . However, on the day before the fight there was uproar during the weigh-in and the fight was cancelled amid chaotic scenes.[9] McCullough had already contracted to fight at 2 lb over the championship weight and he weighed in at . However, Martínez failed to make the agreed weight and was 1.75 lb over the agreed weight.[9]
Martínez was given a couple of hours to shed the excess weight, but did not return to weigh in again and the scales were closed by a BBBofC official. A furious McCullough stated "I couldn't believe it. He comes in over the weight and then after being asked to take it off he just sits there and does nothing. I just can't believe what has happened. I was ready to fight and ready to win and he comes in that much over the weight.".[9] [10]
Kiko Martínez made his first defence of the EBU super bantamweight title against Rendall Munroe; a title he had successfully taken from Bernard Dunne in August 2007. The fight against Munroe took place at the Harvey Hadden Leisure Centre, Nottingham on 7 March 2008.[11]
The fight turned out to be fairly uneventful as Munroe countered Martínez by blocking and counterpunching, without ever troubling the champion. Meanwhile, Martinez failed to land the big shots that had seen him stop Bernard Dunne. The fight went the full 12 rounds, with Munroe winning by a majority points decision.
On February 9, 2013, Martínez faced Carl Frampton in front of Frampton's home fans in the Odyssey Arena in Belfast. Martinez lost by TKO in Round 9 losing the European Super-bantamweight title.[12] Carl Frampton and Kiko fought again in September 2014 in Northern Ireland.
“Since the 9th of February 2013, when I get up at five in the morning to go training, I remember him. For me, to defeat him is a greater motivation than the chance to unify the belts," said Martinez.
"I will never forget that night and I will prove that it was just a bad day for me. I am world champion now and my legacy will be bigger for facing Carl Frampton.”
On 17 August 2013 in New Jersey, Martínez beat Jonatan Romero by TKO to win the IBF Super Bantamweight title. After 2 successful defenses, Martinez then had a rematch with Carl Frampton resulting in Martinez losing his IBF belt.
Since then Martinez has had ten wins and 5 losses. Three of these losses were against World Champions Scott Quigg, Leo Santa Cruz and Gary Russell Jr.
| Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Round, time | Date | Location | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 58 | Loss | 44–12–2 | Reiya Abe | UD | 12 | 8 Apr 2023 | |||
| 57 | Win | 44–11–2 | Jordan Gill | TKO | 4 (12), | 29 Oct 2022 | |||
| 56 | Loss | 43–11–2 | Josh Warrington | TKO | 7 (12), | 26 Mar 2022 | |||
| 55 | Win | 43–10–2 | Kid Galahad | KO | 6 (12), | 13 Nov 2021 | |||
| 54 | Win | 42–10–2 | Jayro Duran | UD | 8 | 11 Sep 2021 | |||
| 53 | Loss | 41–10–2 | Zelfa Barrett | UD | 12 | 13 Feb 2021 | |||
| 52 | Win | 41–9–2 | Noe Martinez Raygoza | TKO | 3 (8), | 21 Aug 2020 | |||
| 51 | Win | 40–9–2 | Alexander Cazares | UD | 10 | 7 Dec 2019 | |||
| 50 | Loss | 39–9–2 | Gary Russell Jr. | TKO | 5 (12), | 18 May 2019 | |||
| 49 | Win | 39–8–2 | Marc Vidal | UD | 12 | 27 Oct 2018 | |||
| 48 | Draw | 38–8–2 | Marc Vidal | 3 (12), | 19 May 2018 | ||||
| 47 | Win | 38–8–1 | Lorenzo Parra | KO | 3 (8), | 26 Aug 2017 | |||
| 46 | Win | 37–8–1 | Franklin Varela | TKO | 4 (8), | 14 Jul 2017 | |||
| 45 | Loss | 36–8–1 | Josh Warrington | MD | 12 | 13 May 2017 | |||
| 44 | Win | 36–7–1 | Leonel Hernandez | PTS | 8 | 25 Nov 2016 | |||
| 43 | Draw | 35–7–1 | Eusebio Osejo | 8 | 23 Jul 2016 | ||||
| 42 | Loss | 35–7 | Léo Santa Cruz | TKO | 5 (12), | 27 Feb 2016 | |||
| 41 | Win | 35–6 | Miguel Gonzalez | TKO | 4 (8), | 12 Dec 2015 | |||
| 40 | Win | 34–6 | Everth Briceno | UD | 8 | 14 Nov 2015 | |||
| 39 | Win | 33–6 | Herald Molina | KO | 1 (8), | 23 Oct 2015 | |||
| 38 | Loss | 32–6 | Scott Quigg | TKO | 2 (12), | 18 Jul 2015 | |||
| 37 | Win | 32–5 | George Gachechiladze | TKO | 2 (8), | 12 Dec 2014 | |||
| 36 | Loss | 31–5 | Carl Frampton | UD | 12 | 6 Sep 2014 | |||
| 35 | Win | 31–4 | Hozumi Hasegawa | TKO | 7 (12), | 23 Apr 2014 | |||
| 34 | Win | 30–4 | Jeffrey Mathebula | KO | 9 (12), | 21 Dec 2013 | |||
| 33 | Win | 29–4 | Jonatan Romero | TKO | 6 (12), | 17 Aug 2013 | |||
| 32 | Win | 28–4 | Damian David Mariano | TKO | 2 (8), | 27 Apr 2013 | |||
| 31 | Loss | 27–4 | Carl Frampton | TKO | 9 (12), | 9 Feb 2013 | |||
| 30 | Win | 27–3 | Dougie Curran | PTS | 6 | 21 Jul 2012 | |||
| 29 | Win | 26–3 | Arsen Martirosian | TKO | 12 (12), | 9 Mar 2012 | |||
| 28 | Win | 25–3 | Jason Booth | KO | 10 (12), | 15 Apr 2011 | |||
| 27 | Win | 24–3 | Oscar Chacin | UD | 6 | 18 Feb 2011 | |||
| 26 | Win | 23–3 | Arsen Martirosian | UD | 12 | 11 Sep 2010 | |||
| 25 | Win | 22–3 | Feliciano Dario Azuaga | TKO | 3 (12), | 16 Apr 2010 | |||
| 24 | Win | 21–3 | Said Chichti | KO | 1 (6), | 11 Dec 2009 | |||
| 23 | Loss | 20–3 | Takalani Ndlovu | UD | 12 | 25 Sep 2009 | |||
| 22 | Loss | 20–2 | Rendall Munroe | UD | 12 | 27 Feb 2009 | |||
| 21 | Win | 20–1 | Gheorghe Ghiompirica | PTS | 6 | 18 Dec 2008 | |||
| 20 | Win | 19–1 | Silviu Lupu | TKO | 1 (10), | 12 Aug 2008 | |||
| 19 | Win | 18–1 | Lante Addy | PTS | 8 | 5 Jul 2008 | |||
| 18 | Loss | 17–1 | Rendall Munroe | 12 | 7 Mar 2008 | ||||
| 17 | Win | 17–0 | Bernard Dunne | TKO | 1 (12), | 25 Aug 2007 | |||
| 16 | Win | 16–0 | Andrei Florin | TKO | 1 (8), | 18 Mar 2007 | |||
| 15 | Win | 15–0 | Edison Torres | UD | 8 | 15 Dec 2006 | |||
| 14 | Win | 14–0 | John Bikai | 12 | 14 Jul 2006 | ||||
| 13 | Win | 13–0 | Andrei Florin | TKO | 3 (6), | 26 May 2006 | |||
| 12 | Win | 12–0 | Salem Bouaita | 10 | 10 Mar 2006 | ||||
| 11 | Win | 11–0 | Peter Baláž | KO | 1 (6), | 25 Nov 2005 | |||
| 10 | Win | 10–0 | Manuel Sequera | KO | 2 (6), | 14 Oct 2005 | |||
| 9 | Win | 9–0 | Manuel Gomes | KO | 4 (12), | 15 Jul 2005 | |||
| 8 | Win | 8–0 | Sergei Nikitin | TKO | 2 (8), | 6 May 2005 | |||
| 7 | Win | 7–0 | Frederic Bonifai | TKO | 2 (8), | 4 Mar 2005 | |||
| 6 | Win | 6–0 | Nikolai Mihailov | TKO | 4 (6), | 4 Feb 2005 | |||
| 5 | Win | 5–0 | Julio Vargas | TKO | 4 (6), | 19 Nov 2004 | |||
| 4 | Win | 4–0 | Juan Garcia Martin | TKO | 3 (6), | 15 Oct 2004 | |||
| 3 | Win | 3–0 | Cristiano Andres Oliveira | 1 (4), | 10 Sep 2004 | ||||
| 2 | Win | 2–0 | Irimiea Ion | TKO | 3 (4), | 24 Jul 2004 | |||
| 1 | Win | 1–0 | David Casero | 3 (4), | 11 Jun 2004 |
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