Carl Jammes “Wonder Boy” Martin scored a knockout victory over Yutthichai Wannawong of Thailand during the second televised fight of his career held on June 9, 2019 at the TV5 Studio in Novaliches, Quezon City to raise his immaculate record to 13 wins that includes 12 knockouts.
The promising fighter from Ifugao needed only one round to finish his opponent.
Martin started relatively cautious in the first moments of the round but started firing heavy leather once he got into rhythm. Two left hooks and a combination flurry that ended with a right straight at the 2:50 mark of the round punctuated the explosive finish.
Martin fired a combination just after the opening bell sounded to start hostilities. Action then came to a lull as both combatants sized each other up.
After about a minute gone, Martin found an opening to deliver a six-punch combination that got his mojo going and began stalking his taller adversary.
Martin then connected a right straight and followed it up with two jabs and a combination that visibly bothered Wannawong.
Martin continued chasing Wananwong around the ring and connected four more rights before nailing the ending sequence that forced Referee Danrex Tapdasan to count out a visibly shaken Wannawong and put a halt to the bout.
“During my first televised match, I struggled to keep my focus because I wasn’t used to the lights and the cameras,” Martin said to ESPN-5 after the match. “I was more calm. I was not looking for the knockout early. I just wanted to be aggressive to give the fans a good show.” He continued.
The win also extended Martin’s kayoe streak to nine, winning over a foreigner foe to seven, and stopping an opponent in the first half of the fight to three.
Martin has stopped all his opponents in abbreviated fashion since Jason Buenaobra lasted the distance in his fourth professional fight, the only time he failed to floor an opponent. Martin still won this fight convincingly by unanimous decision.
He also previously stopped Petchchorhae Kokietgym of Thailand, Moon Chul Suh of South Korea, Huerban Qiatehe of China, George Lumoly of Indonesia, Hashimu Zuberi of Tanzania, and Artid Bamrungauea of Thailand in succession. The last Filipino he defeated was Vincent Bautista during his 6th fight.
Kokietgym failed to complete the third round of their 10-round fight while Moon was stopped in the fourth of their 12-round bout. Qiatehe was his last opponent to get past the first half of their bout by reaching the 6th round of their scheduled 10-round fight on August 6, 2018.
The unbeaten Martin is ranked 11th among bantamweights by the World Boxing Association (WBA) He currently holds the WBA bantamweight and the World Boxing Organization Oriental Youth Bantamweight titles.
He is also noticed by many boxing enthusiasts to be the second coming of Manny Pacquiao.
Martin acknowledged the similarities but was quick to defuse the notion by saying he wanted not to pattern his game to the Fighting Senator but his training led him to the same style.
“I’ve been told that I fight like him but I know there’s only one Manny Pacquiao so I wanted to change my fight style, but when I train and when I fight, I keep going back to that style so I think I’ll just have to accept it.” Martin said in an interview with ESPN-5.
Martin, however, may not be a bad Pacquiao impersonator if he continues this impressive showing in future bouts.
Martin also acknowledged this and his need to improve in his game. He said he is around three years more from being a title contender. He also relayed his wish to promoters for his fights to appear more frequent in TV.
By Armando M. Bolislis
Banner photo lifted from Carl Jammes Martin Facebook Page