Sandor Martin storms the World Cup. After a brilliant victory over Jose Felix Soto, there are no limits to 2022. The Spaniard claims his throne on the ultra-lightweight court.
Give names and titles. Zepeda, Prograis, Jack Catterall, Teofimo López, José Carlos Ramírez or Josh Taylor himself. Indifferent “Arasandur”: “Let’s see who is better.” Not wrinkled, he hopes to become world champion in “less than a year”.
Back up what he says. The recently declared WBA champion, with a 40-win-13 knockout and two losses, “stole Mickey Garcia’s dream,” he assured EFE before his historic fight in California.
Sandor Martín moves with the same plasticity in front of the microphones as it does between 16 strings. She is already a star and stars in documentaries. He fought, once again, to raise the name of Spanish boxing to an international level: “I want to fill the stadiums here, I want to bring big titles and big fights.”
Question: How do you live in the days after the fighting?
Answers: I’ve been sick for two days, I’ve caught a cold, but in terms of fighting, I’m fine and happy. I have not suffered any excessive damage on a physical level. Very happy with the result and the night we had on Friday.
Q: Fight at home (Barcelona) and dominate, a little more you could ask: How did you feel?
A: I felt very good. I was very well received, there was a great entrance in the suite and the people were so loyal. I think there was a great desire to see me again here at home after Mickey Garcia.
It’s only been a year since I played at Barcelona, and the truth is that everything has gone well. I can’t complain about anything at all. I trained well, prepared well, and the audience gave in too, the truth is, it was a very good symbiosis.
Q: Against a very experienced opponent with a good track record and strong KO: was the strategy based on not taking undue risks?
A: We learned that he did not respond to the stereotype of the Mexican boxer going to the battlefield. He builds his style on counter boxing, quite similar to mine, does he like to rally, does he have a very good defense? We knew that in the beginning it would be a bit of a slow fight and that as the rounds went by we would end up finding it.
They had a well-defined strategy and the idea was that, without ever rushing, to continue the plan and add assault to assault. In the end, it was all about getting to the point where we wanted to get to work. Honestly, it cost us, it came with a lesson well learned.
Q: What did Jose Felix Soto tell you after the fight? We saw him visibly excited recounting it in the changing rooms.
A: It was two things. One when we go out to the last attack, where the salutation is mandatory. Jose Felix told me he was a great boxer and he would be the world champion. They gave me the score, I won the fight and he who comes looking for me tells me he is grateful to have crossed the gloves with me and that this was his last fight. It was something that surprised me very much, and I obviously did not expect it.
He wants to be a world champion but in that fight he sees that he can no longer make it, he is not at that level so he wants to make way for other boxers. It’s a gesture that honors her and says a lot about him as a person. He retires with you after the defeat and is very clear? He was surprised, if he won, he could go back to the World Cup, it was a fight that piqued his interest a lot but that was his decision, I was surprised. I am grateful for sharing the ring with him.
Q: How did you live these months of preparation after such a wonderful victory over Mickey Garcia? Once seeing the reception he had upon his return, the city’s support must have been immense.
A: To this day people still stop me in the street and congratulate me. After all that victory over Mickey Garcia meant, it took a long time to remake my next fight. I had to train all that time, waiting for the answers after postponing Josh Taylor against Jack Caterall and figuring out the next move which resulted in Jose Felix. I don’t want my athletic career to stop after what we did in California.
Q: After a victory as important as yours, you are in the spotlight: does that mean extra pressure?
A: Not at all, stress is the thing I love, it motivates me and excites me more to be better. The higher the pressure, the more I enjoyed the top of the ring and got better results. It is something that can go hand in hand with me, what I am clear about is that I am a professional athlete and I had to prepare well and not underestimate my competition in any way. In boxing there are no easy fights.
Q: How did you live your first documentary film experience?
A: It was amazing, the DAZN production and management team was amazing. They treated the documentary with a great deal of affection, I experienced it from a first person perspective with great feeling. I got involved in the project because in the end I was telling my life story. Where did I come from and where do I go and what did this important step entail? I get emotional in some sections of the documentary because I feel that way, from inside I want to be a world champion and I think everyone who’s seen it can see it’s a very good job.
Q: To see how well the evening was in Barcelona: the idea of continuing to try to bring the battles here to Spain or to look for them abroad?
A: I’d like to fight on the big stage, I’d like to fight at MGM, at Madison Square Garden, at an event in the UK with 80,000 people? But I also want to bring the big fights to Spain. I want to occupy the stadiums here, I want to bring the big titles and the big fights, if I can have a world championship in Spain it will be something historic.
Q: With Josh Taylor’s close win over Jack Caterrall and the prospect of his move to middleweight, it looks like the division will be moving a lot: Do you think which one is closer to playing the World Cup?
A: If Josh Taylor didn’t move, that option would be out of the way. We just won a WBA title that could allow us to move up to a position in the standings, I’m 5th in WBC, 4th in WBO in welterweight, although I imagine they’d put me back at 140lbs, I’m No. 13 in the IBF.
We are well categorized. I don’t know if it will happen in the form of qualifiers or directly in the form of the World Cup, but I think we deserve one of those places to fight for world titles, even though it is no longer something that depends on that. Ali. I did something above the ring and now my team has to work in the offices for a chance to fight for the title.
Q: What competitor is Sandor Martin thinking?
A: To the best in the division. There’s Zepeda, Progress, Taylor himself who wasn’t there yet, there’s Jack Caterral, did Teofemo Lopez and Jose Carlos Ramirez come? There are so many levels out there at 140lbs, which I think is one of the most complete sections ever. They are all good, complete fighters with lots of resources and lots of skills. I think I have them too, so we’ll face each other and see who’s better.
Q: Do you see yourself fighting for the World Cup in less than a year?
A: I hope to be a world champion soon within a year.
Q: How long will it take you to drive until your next fight?
A: We’ll see what organizations can be like, what happens with lists and what happens with Taylor and addresses. That will determine what we can do. This fight was definitely too good for us because we couldn’t be idle. We took the ring and had very good feelings.
We are excited and now we have to wait for events, I don’t know if I will fight again before the summer, it is an option. The other will be after the summer and before the end of the year. I’ll have another fight in 2022 for sure, I don’t know if there are two, we’ll see under what circumstances.
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