Once a top amateur boxer and coming in on the heels of a 2-0 record as a professional, Fort Collins, Colo boxer Danielle Saldanha was in search of continuing the momentum in her early career, but she ran into the city of Española, who filled Buffalo Thunder Resort & Casino’s Tewa Grand Ballroom to support one of their own.
The quick jabs and tight combinations of Cordova native and Española representative Leanna Martinez proved too much, as she outlasted Saldanha in the four-round fight, winning by unanimous decision (39-37, 39-37, 39-37) during Holmes Boxing’s Sound of Thunder Sept. 22 to stay unblemished and move to 4-0 in her professional career.
Martinez gave all the credit to her trainer Pat Holmes Sr., who promoted the event and was also recognized for his introductory into the New Mexico Boxing Hall of Fame, which will take place Oct. 27 in Albuquerque.
“In the first round I listened to my coach right away and we planned on moving a lot,” Martinez said. “We knew she was going to come through forward with punches, so our plan was to move and angle her. That’s all I did, I just listened.”
Martinez is set to graduate to a six-round fight in her next bout. Holmes said he saw enough to believe she is on track to do so.
“I saw a lot of maturity from her tonight,” Holmes said. “Total maturity. She listened and played it out just like we planned in the gym and she did it round-by-round. If she keeps the pace, then we can expect to see her in a title fight right around this time next year.”
Martinez said the fight was the toughest of her career thus far, but she also benefited from studying video of Saldanha, which had not been available during her training camps for her first three fights.
“This was the first fight that I’ve trained for to face a specific person,” she said. “I saw video on her and in the past, I had never seen video on any of my opponents. It helped me know what to expect and this was my toughest fight. We were both undefeated and she came in shape, better than any of my other opponents and this is the best shape I’ve ever been in.”
Martinez was able to control the momentum in the first round — frustrating Saldanha — who couldn’t get into a rhythm and land early forward-moving punches to dictate the flow of the fight. Martinez said her ability to move quickly brought out a frustration that she said was evident in the eyes of Saldanha.
Antonio Martinez falls again
At the end of the night, it wasn’t all smiles for a majority of the crowd who came out to support another Española product in Antonio “Tone” Martinez, who lost the six-round main event by split decision (58-56, 56-58, 58-56) to Luis Gerardo Avila from Nogales, Mexico.
Antonio Martinez entered the night with a 9-4-4 record looking to rebound from his split decision loss on May 12, also at Buffalo Thunder, but he suffered another defeat to lose two consecutive fights for the first time in his career.
“It’s pretty high right now (frustration level),” Antonio Martinez said afterward. “You train hard for 12 weeks and expect to get the win. Coming out with the loss, it sucks, but it was a good fight. You could tell that by the sound. A blind man could hear that it was a good fight just from all the action. We were bangin’, so that’s the only positive; I think all the fans got their money’s worth. Two losses in a row though is kind of hard to deal with.”
While both fighters were able to consistently land shots throughout the six rounds that featured several momentum swings, a majority of Avila’s landed punches weren’t flush face or body shots. Martinez did a solid job at protecting, which turned many of the punches he was hit with into arm and shoulder shots.
“They don’t really count when they aren’t in the body,” Antonio Martinez said. “I won’t dispute it. Like I tell you, the judges have their views, but I need to do a better job at following the game plan. I listened to a point but there’s a part where I have to mature. I listened to a point but then I fell off into that brawling again, so I need to listen the whole time.”
Antonio Martinez also fought out of Holmes Boxing and under the direction of Pat Holmes, who said he wanted to take full responsibility for the defeat.
“The game plan we had, he listened to it,” Holmes said. “I know he said he didn’t listen to it, but he did and he’s a humble guy that will always want to take the hits outside the ring but the truth of the matter is, the game plan was to push him (Avila) back. We just had a very durable guy in front of us that could take a lot of heat. I think we landed the cleaner shots but I think he slapped a lot around the shoulders. This could have been different if it was 10 rounds but it was six rounds and that guy was a hard guy to chizzle down in six rounds with that strategy, so I take responsibility.”
Full card results
Four rounds at 158 pounds: Daniel Flores (1-2) def. Mark Jimenez (0-2) by split decision (39-36, 37-39, 40-36); four rounds at 147 pounds: Ronnie Baca (4-0-1) def. Jimmy Archuleta (0-1) by TKO, 0:36 in round No. 1; four rounds at 153 pounds: Loreto Olivas (2-0) def. Ernesto Salvidrez (1-1) by unanimous decision (40-36, 40-36, 39-37); four rounds at heavy weight: Jesus Sanchez (1-0) def. Lorenzo Benavidez (0-1) by unanimous decision (39-37, 39-37, 39-37); four rounds at 112 pounds: Leanna Martinez (4-0) def. Danielle Saldanha (2-1) by unanimous decision (39-37, 39-37, 39-37); six rounds at 112 pounds: Mathew Griego (9-0) def. Rondarius Hunter (2-4-1) by TKO, 1:17 in round No. 2; six rounds at 135 pounds: Luis Gerardo Avila (7-11) def. Antonio Martinez (9-5-4) by split decision (58-56, 56-58, 58-56)