(OCT 9) The Couer d’ Alene casino in Worley, Idaho was the scene last Friday for the coming out party of a new star on the horizon, Angelica Martinez. The Dallas native scrapped 10 hard fought rounds with the legendary Christy Martin, and came away with a unanimous decision.

The obvious thing right off the bat was the fact that Martinez, ( 6-2-1, 1KO) had quite a substantial height and reach advantage, which many thought would be difficult to overcome. But that’s what has made Christi Martin the Champion that she is. Martin, ( 46-5-2, 31 KO) used superior hand and foot speed while mixing up double and triple jabs with a hard body attack to win rounds 1-3.

Round 4 changed the complexion of the fight as for some unexplained reason Martin opted to stand toe to toe with Martinez near the rounds end. After getting the better of that heated exchange and having felt Martin’s best, Martinez began showing some swagger of her own the rest of the fight as she continually walked down Martin.

Martinez began to keep Martin at the end of a long stiff jab and some hard straight right hands which snapped the head of Martin back several times. Martin got back on track throughout the contest several times using her speed, and jabbing superiority, but every time she attempted to go toe to toe, came out on the short end. It was a strategy which cost her the fight in the end, as Martin probably out punched Martinez 3-1, but was on the receiving end of the harder telling blows which ultimately would be her demise.

The final tally’s read 97-96, 97-93, and  96-94, all for Martinez, The crowd showed their support for the new star with a deafening ovation as she was declared the winner.

After the fight Martinez had this to say. “ I came in the fight in great condition and really didn’t know what to expect. We formulated no specific plan, and just wanted to see what she had before we made our adjustments, “ said a very humble Martinez. “ She is a great Champion, but I came here to win, not be an opponent. My corner made the right decisions during the fight and by round 3 or 4,  I felt comfortable that we could win.”

When asked if she thought she was going to get the decision, the shy, reserved Martinez paused a long while then smiled and said, “ I thought I won, but you never know. I landed the harder punches. She never hurt me at all. There were no surprises.”

After taking a deep breath Angelica Martinez eyes got as big as saucers, it must have just sunken in that she was now a real player in women’s boxing. WBAN’s last question was the obvious, “ What’s next?” There was no hesitation in her answer, “ Everything is Next.”

Note from WBAN: This fight was originally called a UD for Martinez, and it is reported on fightnews.com - Boxinginlasvegas.com (who personally spoke to Jim Martin after the fight, and we are now being told that it was a split decision.  So FightFax will need to be contacted to get the official WIN for Martinez, as a UD or a Split.