Israel Gonzalez and Jose Martinez both had their moments during their back-and-forth, 10-round bantamweight bout Thursday night.
Neither fighter did enough to impress the judges, however, and their televised fight was declared a majority draw. Judge Robin Taylor scored their fight 96-94 for Mexico’s Gonzalez, but she was overruled by judges Jose Roberto Torres (95-95) and Don Trella (95-95).
NBC Sports Network broadcast their closely contested fight from Albergue Olimpico in Salinas, Puerto Rico, as part of its “Ring City USA” series.
The 24-year-old Gonzalez (26-4-1, 11 KOs) settled for a draw in his second appearance since losing a unanimous decision to former WBA super flyweight champion Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez two bouts before he met Martinez. The 28-year-old Martinez (21-1-3, 14 KOs) has fought to draws in three of the Puerto Rican veteran’s past seven bouts.
Their fight seemingly was there to take entering the final round, but there were a lot of clinches during a sloppy 10th round neither fighter took much initiative to win.
Gonzalez’s right hand made Martinez retreat with about 15 seconds left in the ninth round. Gonzalez was busier and more accurate throughout that ninth round.
Gonzalez’s jab backed up Martinez with about 30 seconds to go in the eighth round. A right hand by Gonzalez also landed about 15 seconds later in what was a productive round for him.
Gonzalez caught Martinez with a right hand about 1:10 into the seventh round and quickly got out of Martinez’s punching range. Gonzalez landed another right hand during a spirited exchange just before the seventh round concluded.
Martinez kept pressuring Gonzalez during the sixth round, but he didn’t land the type of flush punches he connected with in the fourth and fifth rounds.
Martinez blasted Gonzalez with a straight right hand several seconds before the fifth round ended. Earlier in the fifth round, Martinez backed Gonzalez against the ropes and landed various power punches before Gonzalez got out of that spot.
Martinez drilled Gonzalez with another right hand as Gonzalez pressed forward with about a minute remaining in the fourth round.
Martinez’s right uppercut connected just before the midway mark of the third round. Martinez remained the aggressor throughout that third round.
A right hand by Martinez backed Gonzalez into the ropes about a minute into the second round. Martinez drilled Gonzalez with another right hand with just over 10 seconds to go in the second round, but Gonzalez came back to land a right hand of his own just before the round ended.
Gonzalez was the busier fighter in the opening round, but neither fighter landed impactful punches in those first three minutes.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
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