Kiko Martinez Destroys Kid Galahad In 6th Round

Kiko Martinez Destroys Kid Galahad In 6th Round

Kiko Martinez Destroys Kid Galahad In 6th Round

Kiko Martinez Destroys Kid Galahad In 6th Round

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In a shocking ending, the past his best 35-year-old former IBF super bantamweight champion Kiko Martinez (43-10-2, 30 KOs) destroyed the heavy favorite IBF featherweight champion Kid Galahad (28-2, 17 KOs) by a sixth round knockout on Saturday night at the Sheffield Arena in Sheffield, England.

The victory for Martinez makes him a two-time world champion, and likely will result in a rematch. Although Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn didn’t say afterward, there’s likely a rematch clause in the contract because this was a voluntary defense for Galahad.

Galahad Looked Weight Drained
Indeed, promoter Eddie Hearn had been criticized by boxing fans for picking Martinez as the opponent for Galahad to make his first defense of his IBF 126-lb title rather than one of the higher-ranked contenders.

Galahad, 31, was dominating the action through the first four rounds and seemingly on his way to a stoppage win over a bleeding Martin.

Things suddenly turned around in the final seconds of the fifth round when Martinez stepped forward and landed a peach of a right hand to the head of Galahad that dropped him flat on his back.

Galahad didn’t even brace himself as he fell, which was a clear sign of how hurt he was. Galahad beat the count but looked badly hurt, staggering when the round resumed with five seconds left. This likely saved Kid Galahad from being knocked out in that round.

At the start of the sixth, Martinez walked across the ring and knocked Galahad flat with the first right hand that he threw. The referee Steve Gray immediately jumped in and halted the contest without bothering to wait to see if Galahad could beat the count. It was obvious that Galahad was too hurt to be allowed to continue.

With the way Galahad went down, it would have been pointless for the referee to have allowed the fight to continue. Galahad looked like he was concussed, and he would have been knocked down again if the action had continued.

Galahad will surely activate his rematch clause to force a second fight with Martinez, but it might be a better idea for him to move up in weight. At 31, Galahad has outgrown the 126-lb weight class, and he needs to move up. He’s getting hit too much now, and taking the weight off could be decreasing his punch resistance.

Hearn In Shock Seeing Galahad Beaten
“One of the most stunning things I’ve seen,” said promoter Eddie Hearn. “That was one of the most thrilling things I’d seen. We got a lot of stick by choosing Kiko Martinez.”

“Unbelievable, in 35 years of watching boxing, I’ve never seen anything like that,” a shocked Hearn continued. “Not only was he [Kiko Martinez] not in the fight, he got battered from the opening bell.

“His legs buckled after a minute, and I started thinking to myself, ‘This could be over in the first round or second round.’ I also started thinking to myself, ‘There could be a bit of stick coming because this is a one-sided beat down.’ I’ve never seen anything like that.

“Fair play to Kiko Martinez, he didn’t give up,” said Hearn. “Maybe in the round before, he started to get a tiny bit of success, but I’ve never seen anything like that.

“He [Galahad] goes down, and gets back up with five seconds to go [in round five], luckily for him. He’s on his stool and looks okay. As he comes out, I’m sending out a Tweet to say, ‘Wow,’ and then I hear the ‘Oohs.’ I look up and it was an even bigger knockdown, the second one. It was just the most unbelievable thing I’ve ever seen.

“We can’t gloat about it being a good match because up to that moment [in the fifth], it wasn’t a good match,” said Hearn in pointing out the obvious.

“I wanted to choose Kiko Martinez because I knew he would never give up, and I knew he was a name and he’s a really nice fellow. We worked with him in Spain and it’s great for DAZN in Spain and stuff like that, but deep down, I didn’t see him winning the fight,” said Hearn in being open about his thoughts.

In hindsight, Hearn should have picked someone with a little less pop in their punches instead of Martinez, who is still a dangerous puncher at 35.

In Galahad’s last fight against the durable light hitting James ‘Jazza’ Dickens last August, he was hit a lot but he didn’t have to worry about the power from his opponent.

Tonight was a different story, as it was a race against time for Galahad because he was getting hit with some big shots in the first four rounds before his chin gave out on him in the fifth.

It looked like Galahad may have been weight drained because he was badly drawn at Friday’s weigh-in. Tonight, Galahad was huge-looking in comparison to Martinez, and he looked like a rehydrated lightweight inside the ring.

If Galahad having problems making the 126-lb weight limit, he might want to forget about forcing a rematch with Martinez and instead of going up to 130 or better yet, 135.

Alycia Baumgardner Destroys Terri Harper
In another big upset on the card, Alycia Baumgardner (11-1, 7 KOs) stopped WBC female super featherweight champion Terri Harper (11-1-1, 6 KOs) by a fourth round knockout in the chief support bout.

Baumgardner caught Harper with a big right hand as she was coming forward, stunning her badly.

Harper looked out of it as she backed away, leaving the referee with no choice but to halt the fight. Harper was totally out on her feet and defenseless.

The time of the stoppage was at 0:23 of round four. Unlike the main event, the champion Harper was dominated throughout the contest by the challenger Baumgardner. Harper was worked over by the American, and outgunned by her.

After the fight, Eddie Hearn revealed that there’s a rematch clause and we’ll likely see a second fight between Harper and Baumgardner. But given how one-sided it was, Harper would be better off going in a different direction.