Jhonatan Romero vs Kiko Martinez Preview August 17
Unbeaten Jhonatan Romero of Colombia will be taking on Kiko Martinez of Spain on Saturday August 17 in Atlantic City, New Jersey as he attempts to hold onto his IBF Junior Featherweight Championship. You can catch all of the action on HBO in North America. The 26-year-old Romero will climb through the ring ropes with a perfect 23-0 record with a dozen Kos to his name. He won the vacant title belt back in February with a win over Alejandro Lopez.
Romero fought for his homeland in the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China. He’s got pretty good height for his weight division and possesses a solid jab. He prefers to press the action and isn’t afraid to let his hands go. However, he’s going to have to be careful against the hard-hitting Martinez since Romero has the bad habit of keeping his hands a little too low. He also throws his punches wide and looping, like a young George Foreman used to do.
Of course, when you do this, you’re leaving yourself open to punches right down the pipe as well as inviting a body attack from your opponent. The 27-year-old Martinez, who turned pro in 2004, enters the bout with a mark of 28-4 with 20 Kos. He has quite a bit of power in his hands, but his chin is questionable and he can be outboxed by a skilled fighter. He was stopped in the ninth round by Carl Frampton back on Feb. 9 and lost his European crown in the process. Martinez has also been beaten by Takalani Ndlovu and dropped a pair of fights against Rendall Munroe.
Martinez was rolling along quite nicely until he ran into Frampton’s fist a few months ago as he was on a seven-bout winning streak when he met the Briton. He bounced back from that loss with a second-round stoppage over Damian Marchiano in April. This bout could erupt with fireworks as their styles match up nicely. Martinez will be the aggressor, but Romero is used to fighting guys who like to force the action and could stick to boxing instead of brawling.
Munroe and Frampton confused Martinez with their excellent movement and Romero may want to try the same tactic. The champion also needs to make sure he stays away from the ropes where Martinez could trap him and land. The Spaniard likes to set things up with his effective jab and his best bet here is to try and turn the boxing match into a slugfest.
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Prediction
Martinez will try to close the distance, use his superior experience, and impose his will on Romero, but it won’t be as easy as it sounds. Romero knows all about Martinez’s power and will do what he can do negate it. If he’s successful with these tactics and his chin holds out expect to see Romero keep his title by a relatively close decision.
Odds
Sportsbook 5dimes.eu has the latest odds of a Martinez win at +370 and a Romero victory at -560. Visit 5Dimes.eu to see up to date odds and to bet on this fight. You should also check out our recent boxing betting predictions to see how we’ve done of late capping the fights.
Jhonatan Romero • Kiko Martinez betting