BoxRec

Sandor Martin Replaces Ill Jose Pedraza, To Fight Teofimo Lopez On December 10 At MSG

The WBC super lightweight elimination match ordered last week will happen a lot sooner than anyone anticipated.

Boxing Scene confirmed Thursday that Spain’s Sandor Martin has agreed to replace an ill Jose Pedraza as Teofimo Lopez’s opponent December 10 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Martin was the other opponent Lopez and his handlers at Top Rank Inc. considered before they picked Pedraza for this next bout, but Martin happily replaced Pedraza on barely three weeks’ notice.

Puerto Rico’s Pedraza contracted an illness not related to COVID-19 during training camp and was forced to withdraw from a 10-round main event ESPN will televise. Pedraza is expected to return to the ring at some point within the first few months of 2023.

ESPN.com’s Mike Coppinger first reported Thursday that Martin replaced Pedraza as Lopez’s opponent.

Las Vegas’ Lopez criticized Martin, who upset four-division champion Mikey Garcia 13 months ago, for pricing himself out of their fight during an interview with BS.com on Wednesday. Now the 140-pound contenders will get the opportunity to settle their differences in an eliminator that could advance the winner toward a shot at whoever emerges victorious when number one-ranked Jose Zepeda (35-2, 27 KOs, 2 NC) and second-rated Regis Prograis (27-1, 23 KOs) fight for the unclaimed WBC super lightweight championship November 26 at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.

The Lopez-Martin winner wouldn’t be obliged to fight for the WBC belt, but the elimination match the WBC ordered eight days ago at its annual convention in Acapulco, Mexico will give the fourth-ranked Lopez or the fifth-rated Martin some leverage.

Martin (40-2, 13 KOs) has boxed just once since he stunningly defeated Garcia by majority decision in their 10-rounder in October 2021 at Chukchansi Park in Fresno, California. The 29-year-old Martin beat Mexican veteran Jose Felix (39-6-1, 30 KOs) by unanimous decision in that 10-round bout, which took place April 1 in Barcelona.

Though Pedraza is a two-division champion who has fought a higher level of opposition overall than Martin, he is 0-1-1 in his last two fights. Pedraza (29-4-1, 14 KOs) settled for a 10-round split draw with fellow former lightweight champ Richard Commey (30-4-1, 27 KOs) in his most recent action, a 10-rounder August 27 at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The 25-year-old Lopez (17-1, 13 KOs), a former IBF/WBA/WBO lightweight champion, knocked out Ghana’s Commey in the second round of their December 2019 bout at Madison Square Garden.

It's a good replacement..

Any chance of an upset.

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑18 Nov 2022, 11:22 It's a good replacement..

Any chance of an upset.

Its a live fight for sure. Sandor is hard to outpoint, and if teo wants to get more agressive and stop him that kinda works into sandores favore.

Teofimo Lopez: “We wish Jose Pedraza a speedy recovery, but we look forward to facing Sandor Martin. He was the opponent we originally wanted for Heisman Night at Madison Square Garden. I will continue to silence the doubters as I take over the 140-pound division. I look forward to giving my hometown fans a special night of boxing.”

Sandor Martin: “I’ve dreamed of fighting in a main event at Madison Square Garden. This is my time. I’ve taken the risk, and I will take control against Teofimo Lopez on December 10th. I will give the fans what they want to see.”

not bad, i agree a more interesting recplacement, i respect pedraza but he's been used so many times he's become a bit boring to me

This will be a Great 140 bout.
I think that it'll end in the 8th round.
Definitely will be an Explosively Aggressive Back and Forth ESPN Classic.

Martin beating a somewhat faded Mikey Garcia makes him a live dog in this one. Hope he's in shape.

Fight Week!!

Teofimo-Martin Undercard

Jared Anderson vs. Jerry Forrest
Xander Zayas vs. Alexis Salazar
Keyshawn Davis vs. Juan Carlos Burgos
Jahi Tucker vs. Ivan Pandzic
Bruce Carrington vs. Juan Tapia
Mike O’Han Jr. vs. Delante Johnson
Frederic Julan vs. Joe Ward
Damian Knyba vs. Emilio Salas

Why this in the main arena and not HULU?

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑10 Dec 2022, 12:47 Why this in the main arena and not HULU?

It was originally booked vs Pedrroza wasn’t it? He is Puerto Rican isn’t he? I guess they figured they could do good Puerto Rico numbers in new York.

Date: Saturday December 10, 2022
Location: Madison Square Garden - New York, NY
TV/Stream: ESPN | ESPN+

Start Times
ESPN+: 6 pm ET | 3 pm PT | 11 pm GMT (Preliminary Card)
ESPN: 9 pm ET | 6 pm PT | 2 am GMT (Main Card)

Promoted by: Top Rank Inc.

Main card

10 Round WBC Super Lightweight Title Eliminator
Teofimo Lopez vs. Sandor Martin

10 Round Heavyweight Bout
Jared Anderson vs. Jerry Forrest

8 Round Super Welterweight Bout
Xander Zayas vs. Alexis Salazar

8 Round Lightweight Bout
Keyshawn Davis vs. Juan Carlos Burgos

Undercard

8 Round Super Lightweight Bout
Tiger Johnson vs. Mike O’Han Jr.

6 Round Light heavyweight Bout
Joe Ward vs. Frederic Julan

6 Round Heavyweight Bout
Damian Knyba vs. Emilio Salas

8 Round Featherweight Bout
Bruce Carrington vs. Juan Tapia

8 Round Welterweight Bout
Jahi Tucker vs. Ivan Pandzic

Main card starts in an hour

Keyshawn looking a top prospect here.
4-0 for everyone and looking like he might get Burgos out of there...

Jared Anderson coming up next.

Anderson KO 2.

Kid looked good. BUT...he has a nasty habit of pulling straight back, staying in the zone and he paid for it a couple of times. Still he dominated Forrest throwing 114 punches in the first round. Love him, but he has more to learn.

i didnt see it, but stopping jerry sounds like a good result. obviously offensively jah's a bit of a beast

ya, he caught a few, not quite ready.
Very nearly tho...

Did he propped stop jerry? Or flurry ref wave standing.

Because properly blasting out jerry is a great achievement, zhang, hunter, pulev, and many more haven’t been able to get rid of him.

gregregegg wrote: ↑11 Dec 2022, 00:13 Did he propped stop jerry? Or flurry ref wave standing.

Because properly blasting out jerry is a great achievement, zhang, hunter, pulev, and many more haven’t been able to get rid of him.

yeah, bashed him a lot with flurries and the ref was looking to step in, but Big Baby caught him with an 'equilibrium shot' on the top of the head. Forrest was KOd standing up and the ref jumped in.
Offensively excellent.

Damn Teo is a limited Fighter. should have been another knocked down in the 7th.

Teo gonna be very lucky if they give him in a win in this one

he is very one dimensional. getting led around the ring masterfully.

squiggy wrote: ↑11 Dec 2022, 01:09 Teo gonna be very lucky if they give him in a win in this one

He will win on some home cooking but Teo is not top tier. no urgency one punch at a time, cant cut down the ring, does not use good angles when coming in.