IBF flyweight champion Sunny Edwards insists Julio Cesar Martinez deserved to be stripped of his WBC title the second he walked away from their unification fight. Edwards and Martinez were deep into negotiations to stage an IBF/WBC unificaton fight in Mexico last month, but Martinez instead agreed to face his mandatory challenger McWilliams Arroyo in December. Edwards will now defend his belt against former 108lb champion Felix Alvarado on Friday night at the Utilita Arena in Sheffield, England.
“Martinez is not a rival of mine, he’s a muppet,” said Edwards. “I saw him as easy work, but I was trying to sell it as being my hardest fight to date. The WBC title should be vacant, and it should be on the line for me and Alvarado on November 11. Martinez was paying step-aside money, to an overdue mandatory challenger, and then pulled out of the fight.
“Whoever is advising Martinez has told him to stay a million miles away from Sunny Edwards. He has avoided me like the plague. And, for me, Martinez is done in the division now.”
Edwards now wants to land a big-time fight with Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez in 2023, who is returning to the flyweight division after holding the WBC super flyweight title.
I don’t know why he even bothered with this. I guess he just doesn’t like Martinez and that’s fine. I don’t know if Martinez avoided him, but I do think Edwards’ style would give him all types of problems and given that Martinez missed weight for Chocolatito, one weight class up (although it was late notice in his defense), maybe he actually is done with the division. Lose Martinez and Nakatani, but gain Rodriguez and Alvarado.
He wanted to fight him after Martinez mugged his older brother Charlie in the No Contest fight
I think the Arroyo fight will be more entertaining then watching a puncher taking on a decent light punching boxer. Alvarado is likely going to have a hard time too
Another example of the best not fighting the best in boxing.
What??? The best not fighting the best??? In these lower weight classes, that’s all they do. JC just fought chocolatito. The fight with arroyo is unfinished business. Their fight was stopped after two rounds after Arroyo suffered a cut due to a clash of heads. It was a hell of a fight while it lasted!
Calm down there Slapsy Maxey. Your team probably wanted the fight in England in front of a British ref and 3 British judges