Reflections on Martinez & Judah-Garcia

Martinez's legs looked a little heavy. While I think Martinez is past his prime at 38 years of age, I think it was more of a case of taking Murray more lightly than being old & faded overnight.

It makes sense that Martinez hurt his left hand because his left hand was never really forcing Murray to respect him. This put Martinez in a more vulnerable situation considering Martinez was never untouchable, and as a bait & counter type fighter Martinez opens himself up & drops his hands to make his opponents pay. Martinez wasn't able to make Murray pay as much, perhaps because of that hand. He also looked very tired from as early as the middle rounds.

Regardless Martinez fought poorly. He circled left right into Murray's best asset which was his straight right hand and couldn't make Murray miss whenever he threw it. He was getting hit with the jab quite a bit too. When he was dropped, he got caught pulling straight back. When Martinez circled away from Murray's right hand, Murray looked a little more out of his comfort, throwing wider hooks, and Martinez became less predictable and less hittable. It also became clear in the last round, unfortunately for Martinez, as there were only glimpses of it showing early that Murray didn't like fighting on the backfoot. Murray became uncomfortable when Martinez pushed him back in the last round and caught Murray with a left hand. There was a moment just like that earlier in another round.

I'm surprised Murray said he thought he didn't do enough and lost fair and square. Humble and classy guy, maybe too classy. I generously gave Martinez six rounds. The first two were very clear, the third less so but still felt like Martinez had edged it. I gave him the seventh, which might have been undeserved. The 11th and 12th I felt Martinez closed the show. That should be a Murray win based on the knockdown. 115-112 seems odd of a score, maybe Murray was taken a point off because of the headbutt? I don't know. Murray definitely won his rounds more clearly, and with more authority, as displayed by the punch-stats.

I won't completely write off Martinez from now on. But with multiple injuries, surgeries, and age knocking on the door. Time seems to be rearing its head to the end of the tunnel for Martinez's career.

Garcia improved and proved to me he's more than just a hooker. But Judah had me getting out of my seat. He's got heart, at least he showed he had an immense heart in this fight. I was screaming for Zab to lay it all on the line in the 11th when he was catching Danny and possibly hurting him. He impressed me, and gave it his all. I applaud Zab for his toughness and spirit.

Back to Garcia, he's got an improved right hand, and varies it well as Paulie pointed out. He varies his offense well; going to both the body and head. Danny Garcia is essentially a jack of all traits but master of none. He's good at everything, but great at nothing. He may have great power, however. It's game-changing, but maybe not quite on the Lucas level. He's got a very good chin, and he's a monstrous JR WW. Made Judah looked tiny in comparison. Sometimes he loses discipline and can be a bit open & wild. But he's an offensive-minded stalker so he's never going to show perfect defense, but his defense definitely improved. He was blocking Zab's jab down quite effectively, and his reflexes seemed sharp. I think he needs to work on his jab. I don't buy that Zab took it away. He was hardly throwing it in the 1st two rounds as Al Bernstein illustrated how Garcia was controlling the action without a jab, which is odd, yet also impressive.

I think Garcia is a little less comfortable on the retreat. The later rounds showed this, as did Morales when pushing him back fairly good in their 1st fight, and while Danny is tough, composed, and a competent counter-puncher, he's not quite as effective when on the retreat.

I scored the fight the same as Tom Shriek: 115-112 Garcia.

He's definitely more than just the hooker I thought he was, most definitely. An improved, but unfinished product.

I would probably favor Lucas over Garcia because Lucas would force Garcia on his back-foot. However, I give him a much better chance than I would have before this fight. I still need to watch Peterson-Holt but think Garcia probably has a better chance in that bout. I may favor him in that matchup.

 

Agreed, he needs to improve his jab. He'd definitely beat Alvarado. Alvarado-Rios are fun exciting fights, but let's not get perspective distorted in regards to their status. Peterson & Mathysse are the next best guys in the division and they're facing each other. I'll have to watch Peterson-Holt to assess Peterson. If he fights aggressively, he might be able to get the job done but Garcia can make you pay far more so it's dangerous. I'd give Lucas the edge against Garcia, but that's not a knock on Garcia. Rios-Garcia would be very fun, but Rios will not be able to eat the same type of shots he took from Alvarado the way he would from Garcia.

It sort of sounds like you're impressively unimpressed with the entire JR WW division. Yeah, I don't think the kid is any special but and if the right fights happen he's certainly bound to lose but there's no knock on that. That's boxing.

 

I was probably optimistic about Martinez's future. I want to be hopeful, but it doesn't look good because he's a fighter that relies so much on his athleticism as you've pointed out. I also wrote that before knowing for sure about the broken hand, and whatever varying pains he might be dealing with.

Good point about the body-punches. Murray seemed cautious early on, and then all of a sudden felt comfortable pressuring him. It was a weird change, and he had little incentive to drop his guard. Murray did a fantastic job measuring distance. I think Murray probably did improve upon his countryman's strategy, but it's hard to tell whether this was more due to Martinez's decline or ring rust, rather than it being just Murray. I'm curious about the punch-stats. I think Murray made Martinez pay much better than Barker when he did open up, but maybe Barker utilized his jab better and threw a hair more.

Martinez looked to be in poor form in the training videos I saw. He looked a bit chubby and declined. Maybe it's more the knee than anything. Martinez is a pretty high volume fighter but he looked rather spent in the middle rounds. It was uncharacteristic. "Agua, agua" I kept hearing him say in between the corners. Martinez has gallantly closed the show to edge fights, but he never looked so desperate and tired in doing so then against Murray.

I think your point says he was more careful about his knee then anything else. Your last point is a good one, but Martinez has a rather strange, mixed history and feelings when it comes to his homeland. That could just me be overlooking into things.

It sucks. Maybe so. I believed he lost as well.

What type of slick fighter do you think would've been capable of beating this Garcia besides Floyd obviously? Peterson or Broner?

 

I did. No one seems to have noticed, though. He looked much more noticeably tired, even as early as the middle rounds.

I saw that and agree with it. This was when Martinez found success pushing Murray back, but this was all too brief and mainly happened in the 12th. Martinez did not seem to have the same kind of success pulling the trigger with power with his left on the back-foot or countering like he usually does, though. His jab was really his main weapon of scoring besides the brief left to the body.

I agree with your point, but I think it might have been a factor. Basically, Martinez was having trouble finding Murray and making him pay the way we would expect him to. I'm aware Murray had his guard up and protected frequently

I understand it wasn't necessarily unusual for Martinez to fight the way he did. I was just looking for a P4P fighter to make the necessary adjustments. Of course he relies on his reflexes, and Martinez was never an untouchable fighter. The thing is, Murray's straight right was his best asset and it was almost always finding it's mark. When Martinez moved right, he was making Murray miss, and Martinez was having more success. Martinez seems to be much better at slipping hooks and wider shots. He has more trouble with the straighter shots like jabs and rights. You can say this for most fighters, maybe, but I think it has more to do with the fact that Martinez is very much reflex-based, and he doesn't slip side to side as much as he tries to dip down at the last moment, then counter.

He did both, actually. He hooked off the right plenty of times, but Zab mostly was off the plane and under the shot.

It's funny you say that about the jab against southpaws because both Murray and Barker had plenty of success with it. I don't buy that.

 

I'll disagree with you here. Those two GIFs illustrated Martinez on the ropes. Southpaws are more vulnerable to the right hand than left hook, and this definitely showed against Murray/Barker for Sergio. Of course, a clean left hook landing is generally going to be the more damaging blow, especially when it's coming from a hooker like Chavez. The reason Martinez had such success against Chavez is because he's a hooker that can't throw straight punches for ****. Chavez doesn't really have much of a right hand. Either way, each fight is different, which is the crux my point. I'm not making general blanket statements about how Sergio ought to fight. I'd never tell him to circle in Chavez's left hook when the guy has an aversion to throwing straight punches.

Fair point. Ward used more of a hook from a range against Dawson as opposed to a jab if memory serves me right.