Leotis Martin vs. Mariano Echevarria

Leotis Martin 195 lbs beat Mariano Echevarria 203 lbs by RTD in round 3 of 10

• Date: 1967-02-03
• Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
• Referee: Bengt Almqvist

The promising Philadelphia heavyweight Leotis Martin was brought into Sweden to keep the spirits high in the pro game. The Swedish star Bo Hogberg had received two dramatic losses during 1966 in EBU title fights to Yolande Leveque and Sandro Mazzinghi.

Leotis who had only 1 loss in 19 fights, went into the ring with veteran Mariano Echevarria. The newspaper Göteborgs- Posten noticed the large amount of fat on the Spaniard's body, and joked that Martin possibily couldn't miss a single blow.

Martin ( 88,5 kg ) hit with hooks to the head and body. Echevarria ( 92 kg ) threw wild swings which missed. He got a cut eye. But in the second the Spaniard actually shook Martin, who had to step back to reexamine the situation with Echevarria.

A right in the 3rd floored Echevarria. He clung on to Martin through the round, bleeding from eye and mouth. He didn't come out for the 4th. The crowd booed, and then Echevarria changed his mind. He tried to talk the referee into continuing, but the fight was over for good.