Chopped liver! Martinez KO`s Selby in Mexico

A crunching hook to the liver of Welsh Andrew Selby, at 57 seconds of the fifth round elevated Mexican Julio César “Rey” Martinez to  official WBC flyweight challenger in the pecking order, at Metepec, State of Mexico.

This brief but highly entertaining encounter was at Metepec Fairground in a co-promotion of Zanfer and Clase Y Talento that Azteca 7, La Casa del Boxeo, transmitted. Using his considerable height and reach advantages willowy Andrew came out like a train on fire, using left and right jabs, switch hitting conventional  and southpaw style to pepper the much shorter Julio Cesar.

In the third round Andrew snapped back Julio Cesar`s head with a hard right hook, and the Mexican immediately returned the compliment with a left hook of his own.  An accidental clash of heads brought the ring doctor to the ring apron to examine Andrew,  who`s left eyebrow was gashed.  Referee Hector Afu deducted a point from Julio.  At the end of the round in the corner, Andrew`s Manager Chris Sanigar, did an impressive job of staunching the blood flow with an expertly applied  cotton wool bud.

In the fourth, Julio was noticeably reducing the distance, applying pressure on his opponent,  looking to corner him to fight at short distance. He landed a hard right to the midriff seconds before the bell which hurt the Welshman.

But it was in the fifth round that Julio Cesar landed that sinking hook to the liver, sending Selby to the canvas. He pitched forwards with mouth guard on the canvass and couldn’t get up before the ten count of Referee Héctor Afu.

With this triumph, the Mexican improved his record to 14-1, 10 knockouts, while the Pride of Wales suffered the first defeat of his career  leaving the ring with a record of (11-1, 6 KOs).

“Rey” Martinez, will fight Charlie Edwards, who precisely defended his green and gold crown by defeating Spanish Ángel Moreno.