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5’8" welterweight Angelica “Angel”
Martinez was born on May 21, 1976 in Oceanside, California. She
now fights out of
Dallas, Texas.
In middle school Angel was more of a
musician ... “Most of my family that I knew were
musicians", she days, "so I thought maybe that’s what I should try." She played
the alto saxophone all the
way through college.
Growing up had not been easy
for her. She was bullied for most of her childhood and as time went
by was bound and determined to become something other than what her
peers made her out to be. Martinez's mother worked two
jobs just to be able to make ends meet for her brother and her. "It
was hard not having her around most of the time, so I always had to
find a way to defend myself," added Martinez.
Martinez began her athletic career in
high school. “I grew up wanting to do nothing but play
basketball", she told WBAN, "and that’s what I did everyday when I was a kid.” In the summer of 1990 she was
selected to play AAU basketball and went to tournaments in Mexico
and Europe representing the United States. She went on to
graduate in the top ten in her class and earned a basketball
scholarship to Southwest Texas State University. She later lost that
scholarship due to a knee injury. “That really depressed me. I started drinking a
lot and lost all hope.” Once the knee mended, Martinez
joined the Marine Corps and spent two years at Camp Pendleton
specializing in explosives. She later began working as a
bartender and moved to Dallas to start over.
Angel told WBAN that she "accidentally" discovered boxing while
trying to lose weight she gained since losing her
basketball scholarship. She went to a gym in Arlington, Texas where she met a
trainer named Jose. “He’s the one who
introduced me to the whole idea of boxing. He said it was the best
cardio,” she says. However, Jose never showed up to the gym
so Angel went on to learn what she could from what was around her. “I
was so desperate for training that I started training with the
wrestlers that worked out there. They threw me around and all kinds
of stuff.”
Bent on learning the art of boxing
she sought out someone who would not think she was a joke, and out of curiosity, she attended an amateur tournament. That ignited
her
interest and she told a friend that she wouldn’t mind
competing. Her friend laughed and said that she was too old and that
she couldn’t do it. “That’s all it took”, she says. Her interest in boxing
steadily turned into a passion and that’s all she could think of.
She competed in five amateur bouts and with four ending in RSC
she decided to take her trainer’s advice and go pro. She dedicated
herself to boxing so much that all her money went to equipment and
training. Living out of her truck and training
six days a week she finally got her shot at her pro debut.
On July 5, 2003, Martinez (149½ lbs) made her
pro debut at Club Life in Dallas, winning by a unanimous
(40-36,40-36,40-6) decision
over Morgan McCarly (150 lbs) of Rosenburg, Texas, who fell to
1-1. “With all I had gone through to this point there was no way I
was gonna go at it half way. It was all or nothing”, said
Martinez.
On August 28, 2003 at the Worthington Hotel in Fort
Worth, Texas Angel (141 lbs) knocked out Mary Wells
(139½ lbs) of San Antonio, Texas at 1:48 of the second round. Mary
fell to 3-2 while Angel was getting a taste of what was to come!
On December 12, 2003 at the Kiva Auditorium in
Albuquerque, New Mexico, Angel weighed in at 142 lbs and faced
undefeated local favorite Holly Holm (144
lbs). Holm won by a six-round unanimous (59-54,59-55,59-55)
decision and improved her record to 6-0-1 (2 KO). Martinez
told WBAN,
“Holm was heavily favored to win. But again, it was a clash of
styles as Holm’s kickboxing background showed against a well-timed
classic boxing style.”
On May 15, 2004 at the Sky Ute Casino in Ignacio, Colorado,
Holly Holm and Angel fought to a six-round majority draw
(59-55 for Holm, but two 57-57 scorecards). Holm appeared to control and outland
Martinez but Martinez's crisp rights connected enough to win her several rounds
on the judges' scorecards.Martinez started slowly while the southpaw Holm
peppered her with jabs and an occasional straight left. At the end of the round,
they started to mix it up and Martinez landed a good right inside. Martinez took
over in the second round, walking Holm into a solid short right whenever Holly
tried to throw something at close quarters. Holm adjusted in the third and
out-hustled a less-busy Martinez. In the fourth, they went toe-to-toe with Holm,
now bleeding from her nose, giving more than she was getting. Holly landed well
with uppercuts and right hooks while Martinez focused on her highly effective
right. The final two rounds saw Holm trying to outbox Martinez, throwing more
often and out- flurrying on their many close exchanges, but Martinez landing the
cleanest, hardest shots. Both camps thought they’d won the fight. Martinez’s
trainer, Pete Rojas, thought that Angel's cleaner shots should have given her
the win while Holm’s trainer, Mike Winkeljohn,
felt that Holly had won by controlling the action better. Holm moved to
7-0-2 (3 KOs) while Martinez progressed to 2-1-1, (2 KOs).
On November 5, 2005 Martinez returned to the ring
to meet Tanya Gallegos of
Colorado in the Southside Boxing Pavilion in Dallas, Texas. She dominated
Gallegos for four rounds and won by a 40-36 on all three judges'
scorecards, dropping Gallegos to 3-3. Her inactivity showed in the ring
and
Martinez felt that she was far from showing the world of boxing what she was made
of.
It wasn’t until 2006 that she got a good chance to prove herself.
On January 27, 2006 at the Palladium in Hollywood, California,
Angel won an eight-round unanimous (78-74,80-72,80-72) decision over
Yvonne Reis of Fort Lauderdale, Flroida for the WIBA
Intercontinental Welterweight title, dropping Reis to 5-9-1.
“I thought, well if I am to prove to myself that this is where I
belong, what better place than in the ring with the WIBA belt around
my waist?" says Martinez.
On June 10, 2006 at the Isleta Casino in Albuquerque, Holly Holm (145¼ lbs)
again had her
hands full in her third fight with Angel (147¼ lbs), who had substituted at
short notice for Lisa Holewyne in a
ten-round bout for the WBA Welterweight title. “It all happened really fast",
Angel told WBAN, "I was coming into the gym
on Wednesday only to find out my trainer was on the phone to fight
that Saturday.” Holly Holm started well in this fight but
had to survive a late-round charge from the aggressive Martinez to
escape with a hard-earned unanimous (98-92) decision for the title. Holm improved her record to 14-1-2 (5 KOs) with the win while
Martinez fell to 4-2-1 (1 KO).
On July 8, 2006 at Fitzgerald's Casino in Tunica,
Mississippi, Angel (146 lbs) won a six-round majority decision
(59-55, 58-56, 57-57) over Miriam Brakache (145 lbs) of Atlanta,
Georgia, who fell to 4-3-0 (1 KO) with the loss.
On October 6, 2006 at the Coeur d'Alene Casino in
Worley, Idaho, Angel won a ten-round unanimous (97-96,97-93,96-94)
decision over women's boxing legend Christy Martin of Orlando,
Florida, who fell to 46-5-2 (31 KO's).
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's eyes got as big as saucers. It must
have just sunken in that she was now a real player in women's
boxing.
She later
told the Dallas Voice that she thought Christy's
strengths were her power and head movement, but "she’s very wide
with her punches, which allows you to see everything before they hit
their mark. She also has poor conditioning — she’s used to knocking
out everyone with just one punch. That’s not much of a strategy."
On May 25, 2007 at the Orleans Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Layla
McCarter (144 lbs) of Las Vegas, Nevada won a six-round unanimous
(60-54,60-54,60-54) decision over Angel (146 lbs), who fell to 6-3-1
(1 KO) while McCarter improved to
24-13-5 (5 KO's).
On September 21, 2007 at the Santa Ana
Star Casino in Bernalillo, New Mexico, Holly
Holm (142 lbs) of Albuquerque won the IFBA Welterweight title
with a 10-round unanimous (99-91,99-91,96-94) decision over Angel
(142 lbs). Holm outboxed Martinez for the most of the first eight
rounds but Martinez stunned her with several hard rights in the
eighth and the late rounds became nail-biters as the two traded
punishing shots. "I don't take anything from Angel," Holm
said after the bout. "She's tough. Her right hands are no joke."
Martinez also praised Holm: "She's an awesome fighter, the best
in the world at welter. What can I say? I don't have excuses. It
just wasn't my night." Holm improved her record to
19-1-2 (5 KOs) while Martinez
dropped to 6-4-1 (1 KOs). On June 12, 2008, Fox Sports ‘The Best Damn Sports Show” aired the IFBA
Welterweight World Title Fight at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville,
Connecticut, between Jill Emery (146¼ lbs) of Nerw York and the then #1 ranked
Angelica (146¼ lbs). Emery won a convincing 99-91,97-93,96-94 ten-round decision to
win the vacant title. Martinez fell to 6-5-1 (1 KO) with the
loss.
Martinez puts in three-hour sessions in her gym six days a week and
runs from two to five miles a day.
Page last updated:
Thursday, 08 June 2023 |
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