Julio Cesar Martinez rallies to overtake Samuel Carmona

Julio Cesar Martinez rallied to beat Samuel Carmona by majority decision to retain his flyweight belt in Saturday’s Juan Francisco Estrada-Roman Gonzalez match in Glendale, Arizona.

The two judges scored the champion 117-111 and 116-112. The third game was a draw, 114-114.

Carmona (8-1, 4 KOs) started well, trailing and moving to take an early hand lead and let the Mexican champion down in the 2016 Olympic athlete’s first title challenge.

However, Carmona, who fights from a fundamentalist point of view, clearly injured his right hand in the fourth or fifth round. He then became a more runner than hit, which opened the door for Martinez (19-2, 14 KOs) to take control of the match.

Martinez had trouble hurling punches at the elusive Spaniard even after picking up an injury from Carmona’s move but the Mexican did more than his opponent for the rest of the run. .

Carmona decided to hold her ground a little more in the long run, leading up to the innings. However, it was clear that he had lost too much ground in the middle of the war.

Martinez is making his fifth WBC title defense.