Julio Cesar Martinez will make his way back to the ring for the last ever Showtime boxing telecast.
The network confirmed the WBC flyweight titlist will command the co-feature of a December 16 Showtime Championship Boxing tripleheader from The Armory in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Martinez will face Venezuela’s Angelino Cordova in a scheduled twelve-round title fight.
Martinez-Cordova is part of a show that will also include the already reported Chris Colbert-Jose Valenzuela rematch, which will open the telecast. Also previously revealed was the David Morrell-Sena Agbeko WBA ‘Regular’ super middleweight title fight in the evening’s main event.
All three bouts were confirmed during the David Benavidez-Demetrius Andrade Showtime PPV event Saturday evening from Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas.
Mexico City’s Martinez (20-2, 15KOs; 2NC) will attempt his seventh title defense, which will come four years nearly to the day of his December 2019 knockout win over Cristofer Rosales. He last turned away the challenge of Panama’s Ronal Batista, whom he stopped in the eleventh-round of a May 6 clash on the undercard of his stablemate Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez’s homecoming in Zapopan, Mexico.
Martinez was previously hamstrung to a title consolidation rematch versus McWilliams Arroyo, until the Puerto Rican Olympian was relieved of his interim title for failure to honor the terms of his entitled status. The WBC granted Martinez to enter a voluntary defense, with another likely to follow in the first quarter of 2024 with a win in this bout.
Cordova (18-0-1, 12KOs) enters his first career title fight on the heels of the two biggest wins of his career.
Both came in the U.S. and in upset fashion, though in fights that could have easily gone the other way. He was a surprise winner over former title challenger Axel Aragon Vega in their ten-round regional junior flyweight title fight last June in Kissimmee, Florida. Cordova then moved back up to flyweight, where he scored a stunning ten round, unanimous decision over former WBO junior flyweight titlist Angel ‘Tito’ Acosta on April 6 in Indio, California.
Placement of Martinez-Cordova on this show puts three of the four major titles at stake on this date spread out over two shows. The night will also feature the highly anticipated Sunny Edwards-Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez IBF/WBO flyweight title unification bout atop a DAZN telecast from Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona.
The only flyweight titlist not currently on the schedule for the remainder of 2023 is WBA claimant Artem Dalakian (22-0, 15KOs). The 36-year-old was due to face mandatory challenger Seigo Yuri Akui (18-2-1, 11KOs) on November 15. The show was postponed when WBA bantamweight titlist Takuma Inoue (18-1, 4KOs) suffered a rib injury and could not proceed with the main event versus former junior bantamweight beltholder Jerwin Ancajas (34-3-2, 23KOs).
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. X (formerly Twitter): @JakeNDaBox