Dunne gunning for Hunter as Martinez takes a hammering
The Martinez corner called a halt to proceedings 57 seconds into the eighth round when it was blatantly obvious that their man, who had taken a hammering from the determined Dubliner, was going nowhere. Martinez had survived another two-fisted onslaught from Dunne and referee David Irving was quick to respond to the corner.
“Bernard Dunne had won every round and David Martinez had taken quite a lot of punishment,” the referee said afterwards. “I could not disagree with the corner.”
It was a night of soaring temperatures inside and outside the ring. Dunne said it was like boxing in a sauna while Martinez, who lives in the torrid heat of Albuquerque, said he had never experienced anything like it. “It was not just very hot. It was so humid,” he said, while Dunne said there were times when it was difficult to breathe.
The sell-out crowd were already steaming at the end of an action-packed first round that saw Dunne waste no time getting to know Martinez. He shipped a left to the head early on but that was the only effective punch the American delivered as Dunne bobbed, weaved and caught his man with some perfectly-placed jabs.
Dunne got through with some big shots to the head and body in the second round and there were a couple of punches thrown after the bell.
Martinez wobbled from a two-fisted onslaught in the third, but he came back with a big right to the head, even though by now there was a swelling under his right eye.
The fourth was dominated by Dunne’s jabs and he put some multi -punch combinations together in the fifth before, again, the referee had to pull them apart at the bell.
A series of solid left hooks set the pattern for the sixth and Martinez did well to survive two big right hands from Dunne although he was now showing visible signs of fatigue.
The seventh round was decisive. Dunne was now taunting his man, smiling, moving forward and picking him off at will and when the Martinez corner called a halt 57 seconds into the eighth, nobody objected.
“You can never be happy if you lose a fight,” the American said. “I came here to win but he beat me. He was the better man tonight. I was not being cocky. I did really believe I could beat him. But he was faster than me. He had better boxing ability than I thought and he was more aggressive.”
Martinez did not quibble with the corner’s decision to call a halt to the proceedings, pointing out that due to the heat, he was tired.
“We are a team and you can’t control what happens in the corner. Everyone has their own opinion, no matter how I look at it. The corner decided and I support them,” he said.
“David is a skilful boxer,” Dunne said. “He is very smart and technically he is very good. He wanted to box and I was able to out-box him and I am very happy with that.”
“With his speed and his fast hands we expected him to give us trouble for the first four or five rounds so I attacked from the start. It was easy because I was fighting before my home fans.”
Those fans were introduced to a new dimension in Dunne’s performance as his defence showed a remarkable improvement and that pleased trainer Harry Hawkins no end.
“He did not take any punishment tonight,” he said. “His head movement was very, very good and he is boxing more at long range. He is not leaning forward and wanting to get into a fight. He is boxing more, using his jab a lot and that’s what I wanted.”
Now promoter Brian Peters wants to take Dunne to new heights, insisting afterwards that the fight with Hunter is now inevitable, before the end of the year.
“That was another step up for Bernard tonight because Martinez is pretty close to world class and you saw how Bernard rose his game. “As regards Michael Hunter a deal can be done and I would be pretty confident we can get him to Dublin.
“My job is to get him here, then Bernard does his job.” Two Irish titles were decided on Saturday night.
Oisin Fagan returned from Oklahoma to stop Jeff Thomas after 2 mins 21 secs of the seventh round for the vacant light welterweight title but he insisted afterwards he still wants Peter McDonagh’s lightweight title.
Jim Rock had a member of John Duddy’s management team at ringside when he beat Kevin Phelan for the middleweight title. Phelan, who has Tipperary roots, was a stand-in for Lee Murtagh, who pulled out after Friday’s weigh-in and he has to produce the documented verification of his qualifications before the title is confirmed.
But the win puts Rock in line for a shot at John Duddy in New York in the near future.
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