MANILA, Philippines – Raul Martinez and Ulises Solis, a pair of Mexican fighters who flew in from Los Angeles yesterday, vowed to put on a good show against their Pinoy opponents on Sunday at the Araneta Coliseum.
Martinez, nicknamed ?La Cobrita? and undefeated in 24 bouts, will try to dethrone Nonito Donaire Jr. as the IBF flyweight champion in the main event of the card dubbed ?The Flash and the Furious.?
Solis, whose younger brother, Jorge Solis, fought and lost to Manny Pacquiao in San Antonio, Texas, two years ago, will try to defend his IBF light-flyweight crown against Fil-Am Brian Viloria.
?It?s going to be a good fight. Win, lose or draw, Nonito will remember me after this fight,? Martinez told scribes who paid him a visit at the Manila Hotel, his home for the next few days.
?Hopefully everything goes well for me because no matter how hard you train, things may go wrong for you on the day of the fight ? your mind, your body may not be there,? he said.
It?s the first visit to the Philippines by Martinez, and fighting on foreign soil gives him a little more to worry in that the judging may just tilt in favor of Donaire, the hometown boy.
?The judging? It?s in the back of every fighter?s mind coming in to another country and fighting a hometown guy. They feel they can get robbed and judges may not go their way.
?But I?m going in there and try not to let the judges come up with that outcome. I want to decide it myself and that?s by knockout,? added Martinez, who said he didn?t come here to lose.
?I want to go home as the champion,? said Martinez, who has logged in so many rounds of sparring that he has lost count. He said he weighed in 117 yesterday and hoped to be down to 114 today.
?I just sat there and ate everything they gave me on the airplane. Before we left I was at 114 and now I?m at 117 or 118,? he said, adding that light workouts in the coming days will put him right even at 112.
Martinez came with trainers Fernando ?Flaco? Castrejon, who learned the craft from the great Nacho Beristain, and Alberto Cruces, all first-timers in the Philippines.
Solis is just as confident, saying his fight with Viloria, the former world champion, may or should end in a knockout.
?There will be a knockout. I can get knocked out or Brian can get knocked out but I?m hoping I?m gonna win,? said Solis as interpreted by Martinez of Viloria.
