Milwaukee boxer Martinez will make pro debut on national TV
Milwaukee native Javier Martinez, currently ranked No. 1 at 165 pounds by USA Boxing in the Elite Division, has agreed to a multi-year contract with Top Rank promotions and will make his professional debut as a middleweight June 30 on ESPN.
Martinez, 24, will make his debut at the MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas.
Martinez won the 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials in his weight class but was chosen as an alternate for the Olympic team and elected to turn pro after 160 amateur battles. He won his first of five national titles at age 13 and won a USA Elite National Championship in 2018.
“I knew it would be hard for me to qualify for the Olympics, so when I found out they chose someone else, it made no sense for me to stay,” Martinez said in a release. “I got this opportunity from Top
Rank, so why not? I have a great promotional company and manager behind me.”
Martinez’s omission from the U.S. Olympic team came with some controversy. He competed over eight days in December at the trials and squared off with Michigan’s Joseph Hicks Jr., winning the first battle between them by unanimous decision. Hicks worked his way back through the losers’ bracket in the double-elimination format and beat Martinez in a split-decision victory, forcing a winner-take-all match between the two.
Martinez won by major decision, but placement at the trials doesn’t come with an automatic spot on the team. USA Boxing coaches chose Hicks for the Olympic team even though Martinez had the No. 1 ranking and two wins over Hicks in three tries.
“At the end of the day, there wasn’t a whole lot between them,” USA Boxing head coach Billy Walsh said in the Lansing State Journal. “Javier had a lot more experience but just wasn’t producing for us. We went with someone who had the potential to do that for me and the team. We’re looking at who’s going to perform and we took a chance on Joe to deliver the goods.”
Now, Martinez is choosing a different path. His trainer, Jorge Capetillo, has worked with world champions Tyson Fury, Jessie Magdaleno and Antonio DeMarco.
“I’ve just been beating everyone in the country the past three, four years, so the time was right to make my next move,” Martinez said.
Martinez is aiming to become the second Milwaukee-born fighter to win a pro world title; the first was back in 1922 when Pinky Mitchell was named the first junior welterweight world champion.
Martinez is the youngest of five children born to Mexican immigrants.
“I want to represent Milwaukee and my parents, who came to this country with nothing,” he said, “and built a life for my brothers and me.”