Martinez backpedals ahead of showdown

THE VERBAL salvo launched by the David Martinez camp during the week was off target, and Martinez himself was the first to admit it when he weighed in alongside Bernard Dunne at the Plaza Hotel in Tallaght last evening in advance of tonight’s super bantamweight showdown at the National Stadium.

During the week Lennie Fresqez, who promotes ‘Il Finito’, said Dunne was “a nothing who had done nothing and would never do anything”, leaving Dunne to promise that he would settle everything in the ring tonight.

But tensions were eased considerably at the weigh-in, with Martinez in an apologetic mood, insisting that he had nothing but the highest respect for the Dubliner.