Sergio Martinez vs Alex Bunema

More than eleven years and 45 professional contests passed before Sergio Martinez obtained his first recognised world championship. The Argentine secured the vacant interim WBC super-welterweight title by defeating Alex Bunema at the Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula, California, on October 4, 2008. Bunema was withdrawn after the eighth round with both eyes badly swollen, giving Martinez victory by retirement at three minutes of the round.

Martinez entered with a record of 43 wins, one defeat and one draw, but remained unfamiliar to much of the American television audience despite years of competition in Argentina, Spain and Britain. The 33-year-old southpaw weighed 154 pounds. Bunema, 30-5-2 and weighing 152½, had recently revived his career by stopping former IBF champion Roman Karmazin in the tenth round. The contest was shown on HBO’s Boxing After Dark, with Raul Caiz Sr. as referee.

The difference in speed was plain from the opening round. Martinez carried his hands low, shifted rapidly in and out of range and struck with the right jab before moving away from Bunema’s counters. The Congolese boxer attempted to advance behind a high guard, but his feet were too slow to keep Martinez before him. Bunema threw comparatively few punches and frequently found that his opponent had moved beyond reach before he could reply.

Martinez increased his activity in the second, moving to either side and attacking from angles rather than remaining directly in front of Bunema. His jab repeatedly disturbed the challenger’s guard, while the straight left followed through the centre. Bunema tried to impose his strength at close quarters but seldom succeeded in trapping Martinez against the ropes. When he did close the distance, Martinez tied him up or turned away before serious work could be done.

The first decisive incident came in the third. Martinez drove Bunema backwards with a succession of fast punches and then dropped him with a left hand. Bunema regained his feet and continued, but he could not alter the pattern. Martinez attacked in bursts, often throwing several punches before Bunema had completed a single counter. The advantage was not merely one of hand speed. Martinez controlled the distance with his feet and repeatedly drew Bunema into leading from too far away.

Through the fourth and fifth rounds, Martinez maintained the pressure without abandoning his movement. He stepped close enough to invite Bunema’s attack, slipped the reply and returned straight punches or short hooks. Bunema remained durable and continued moving forward, but his face began to show the effects of the accumulated blows. The area around his eyes swelled progressively, restricting his vision and making Martinez’s punches still more difficult to anticipate.

There was no change in the sixth or seventh. Bunema’s offence had been reduced to isolated swings, many of which passed harmlessly as Martinez moved away. The Argentine occasionally stood close and exchanged, but generally avoided unnecessary risks. His right jab remained the controlling punch, marking Bunema’s face and preparing the straight left. By the seventh, the swelling around both of Bunema’s eyes was severe, and he was offering little effective resistance.

Martinez continued to land freely throughout the eighth. Bunema remained on his feet and showed no desire to surrender, but he could no longer defend himself adequately or see the punches arriving. The ringside physician examined him after the bell and determined that he should not continue. The official scorecards confirmed the one-sided course of the contest: Alejandro Rochin and Nicolas Hidalgo each had Martinez ahead 80-70, while Max DeLuca scored it 80-71.

The victory improved Martinez’s record to 44-1-1 and gave him the first major belt of his career. Although it was the interim version of the WBC championship, his performance required little qualification. Bunema had entered with respectable recent form and a reputation for strength, yet was outboxed from the beginning and gradually rendered incapable of continuing. Martinez’s speed, southpaw angles and command of distance had carried him through eight rounds with scarcely a sustained period of difficulty. His next appearance, a disputed draw with Kermit Cintron, proved far more troublesome, but the Bunema contest marked his arrival among the leading men of the division.

This was the night Sergio Martinez finally announced himself to a wider audience. He had been a professional for more than eleven years and already had 45 fights behind him, yet many boxing followers outside Argentina and Spain still knew very little about him. Alex Bunema was expected to provide a proper examination after stopping former champion Roman Karmazin, but he was made to look painfully limited.

The difference in speed was obvious immediately. Martinez boxed with his hands low, but it was not careless because his feet and judgement of distance were so sharp. He stepped into range, landed the jab or straight left, then moved before Bunema could set himself. Bunema kept following rather than cutting off the ring, which allowed Martinez to dictate every exchange.

The third-round knockdown effectively settled matters. Bunema showed courage and remained upright afterwards, but courage without answers merely prolongs the punishment. Martinez continued landing in quick clusters, attacking from angles and turning Bunema whenever he approached the ropes. By the eighth, both of Bunema’s eyes were badly swollen, and he could no longer defend himself properly. The stoppage was unquestionably correct.

This was not Martinez beating a great fighter, but it was a high-quality performance against a legitimate contender. His timing, movement and punch selection were excellent. The only surprise is that it took the boxing establishment so long to recognise what was standing in front of them.