Francisco "Kiko" Martínez Sánchez (born 7 March 1986) is a Spanish former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2023. He is a world champion in two weight classes, having previously held the International Boxing Federation (IBF) super-bantamweight title from 2013 to 2014, and the IBF featherweight title from 2021 to 2022. At regional level, he held the European super-bantamweight title three times between 2007 and 2013, and the European featherweight title twice in 2018 and 2022 respectively.

Amateur career Martínez fought extensively as an amateur. He fought 40 amateur bouts and never lost, with 38 of those victories being by knockout. Martinez stated that he "could have gone to the Olympics – the Spanish amateur boxing association wanted me to sign a four-year contract but I wanted to turn professional".

Professional career Martínez turned professional on 11 June 2004, defeating David Casero by knockout in the third round on a card that included Javier Castillejo.. Retrieved 10 December 2016.

Martínez went on to win all of his first 11 fights with each victory coming via a knockout within four rounds.

European super-bantamweight champion On 10 March 2006, Martínez faced Frenchman Salem Bouaita for his EBU European Union super bantamweight title at Pabellón de Elche in Spain. This was Martinez's first fight which went past four rounds and the fight went the full scheduled 10 rounds. Martínez was given a unanimous points win and won the title.

Martínez won a further four fights and became the mandatory challenger European super bantamweight title.

Martínez vs. Dunne The EBU made Martinez the mandatory challenger for Irish fighter, Bernard Dunne's European super bantamweight title.

Martínez and Dunne clashed on 25 August 2007 at the Point Theatre, Dublin, Ireland. This was Martinez's first fight outside of Spain and despite being the challenger he was confident of victory. Martinez stated before the fight that he "might be a little shorter than Bernard but I'm 5 foot 4 inches of a headache for him".

On the night of the fight the Point Depot filled with expectant Irish boxing fans and the fight was beamed live on RTÉ, the Irish national television broadcaster. The fight started with Dunne keeping his guard low and circling Martínez. However, Martínez quickly had Dunne on the canvas with an overhand right. Dunne appeared stunned and unaware of what had happened. Dunne beat the count but was floored twice more before the referee stopped the fight within only 90 seconds of round one.

The Martínez camp stated that they knew there would be a first round victory and that many of them had placed bets worth thousands of pounds with Irish bookmakers at odds of 66/1 that Martínez would win in the first round.

Controversy Martínez had signed to fight another Irishman, the Las Vegas-based former WBC bantamweight champion, Wayne McCullough at Belfast's Kings Hall on 1 December 2007.

McCullough had not fought for over two years and the Kings Hall venue was sold out for the fight. It was agreed that the non-title fight would take place at . However, on the day before the fight there was uproar during the weigh-in and the fight was cancelled amid chaotic scenes. McCullough had already contracted to fight at 2 lb over the championship weight and he weighed in at . However, Martínez failed to make the agreed weight and was 1.75 lb over the agreed weight.

Martínez was given a couple of hours to shed the excess weight, but did not return to weigh in again and the scales were closed by a BBBofC official. A furious McCullough stated "I couldn't believe it. He comes in over the weight and then after being asked to take it off he just sits there and does nothing. I just can't believe what has happened. I was ready to fight and ready to win and he comes in that much over the weight.".

First loss Kiko Martínez made his first defence of the EBU super bantamweight title against Rendall Munroe; a title he had successfully taken from Bernard Dunne in August 2007. The fight against Munroe took place at the Harvey Hadden Leisure Centre, Nottingham on 7 March 2008.

The fight turned out to be fairly uneventful as Munroe countered Martínez by blocking and counterpunching, without ever troubling the champion. Meanwhile, Martinez failed to land the big shots that had seen him stop Bernard Dunne. The fight went the full 12 rounds, with Munroe winning by a majority points decision.

Martínez vs. Frampton On February 9, 2013, Martínez faced Carl Frampton in front of Frampton's home fans in the Odyssey Arena in Belfast. Martinez lost by TKO in Round 9 losing the European Super-bantamweight title. Carl Frampton and Kiko fought again in September 2014 in Northern Ireland.

“Since the 9th of February 2013, when I get up at five in the morning to go training, I remember him. For me, to defeat him is a greater motivation than the chance to unify the belts," said Martinez.

"I will never forget that night and I will prove that it was just a bad day for me. I am world champion now and my legacy will be bigger for facing Carl Frampton.”

IBF super-bantamweight champion On 17 August 2013 in New Jersey, Martínez beat Jonatan Romero by TKO to win the IBF Super Bantamweight title. After 2 successful defenses, Martinez then had a rematch with Carl Frampton resulting in Martinez losing his IBF belt.

Since then Martinez has had ten wins and 5 losses. Three of these losses were against World Champions Scott Quigg, Leo Santa Cruz and Gary Russell Jr.

Professional boxing record

ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes58LossReiya AbeUD128 Apr 202357Win44–11–2Jordan GillTKO4 (12), 29 Oct 202256Loss43–11–2Josh WarringtonTKO7 (12), 26 Mar 202255Win43–10–2Kid GalahadKO6 (12), 13 Nov 202154Win42–10–2Jayro DuranUD811 Sep 202153Loss41–10–2Zelfa BarrettUD1213 Feb 202152Win41–9–2Noe Martinez RaygozaTKO3 (8), 21 Aug 202051Win40–9–2Alexander CazaresUD107 Dec 201950Loss39–9–2Gary Russell Jr.TKO5 (12), 18 May 2019 49Win39–8–2Marc VidalUD1227 Oct 201848Draw38–8–2Marc Vidal3 (12), 19 May 201847Win38–8–1Lorenzo ParraKO3 (8), 26 Aug 201746Win37–8–1Franklin VarelaTKO4 (8), 14 Jul 201745Loss36–8–1Josh WarringtonMD1213 May 201744Win36–7–1Leonel HernandezPTS825 Nov 201643Draw35–7–1Eusebio Osejo823 Jul 201642Loss35–7Léo Santa CruzTKO5 (12), 27 Feb 201641Win35–6Miguel GonzalezTKO4 (8), 12 Dec 201540Win34–6Everth BricenoUD814 Nov 201539Win33–6Herald MolinaKO1 (8), 23 Oct 201538Loss32–6Scott QuiggTKO2 (12), 18 Jul 201537Win32–5George GachechiladzeTKO2 (8), 12 Dec 201436Loss31–5Carl FramptonUD126 Sep 201435Win31–4Hozumi HasegawaTKO7 (12), 23 Apr 201434Win30–4Jeffrey MathebulaKO9 (12), 21 Dec 201333Win29–4Jonatan RomeroTKO6 (12), 17 Aug 201332Win28–4Damian David MarianoTKO2 (8), 27 Apr 201331Loss27–4Carl FramptonTKO9 (12), 9 Feb 201330Win27–3Dougie CurranPTS621 Jul 201229Win26–3Arsen MartirosianTKO12 (12), 9 Mar 201228Win25–3Jason BoothKO10 (12), 15 Apr 201127Win24–3Oscar ChacinUD618 Feb 201126Win23–3Arsen MartirosianUD1211 Sep 201025Win22–3Feliciano Dario AzuagaTKO3 (12), 16 Apr 201024Win21–3Said ChichtiKO1 (6), 11 Dec 200923Loss20–3Takalani NdlovuUD1225 Sep 200922Loss20–2Rendall MunroeUD1227 Feb 200921Win20–1Gheorghe GhiompiricaPTS618 Dec 200820Win19–1Silviu LupuTKO1 (10), 12 Aug 200819Win18–1Lante AddyPTS85 Jul 200818Loss17–1Rendall Munroe127 Mar 200817Win17–0Bernard DunneTKO1 (12), 25 Aug 200716Win16–0Andrei FlorinTKO1 (8), 18 Mar 200715Win15–0Edison TorresUD815 Dec 200614Win14–0John Bikai1214 Jul 200613Win13–0Andrei FlorinTKO3 (6), 26 May 200612Win12–0Salem Bouaita1010 Mar 200611Win11–0Peter BalážKO1 (6), 25 Nov 200510Win10–0Manuel SequeraKO2 (6), 14 Oct 20059Win9–0Manuel GomesKO4 (12), 15 Jul 20058Win8–0Sergei NikitinTKO2 (8), 6 May 20057Win7–0Frederic BonifaiTKO2 (8), 4 Mar 20056Win6–0Nikolai MihailovTKO4 (6), 4 Feb 20055Win5–0Julio VargasTKO4 (6), 19 Nov 20044Win4–0Juan Garcia MartinTKO3 (6), 15 Oct 20043Win3–0Cristiano Andres Oliveira1 (4), 10 Sep 20042Win2–0Irimiea IonTKO3 (4), 24 Jul 20041Win1–0David Casero3 (4), 11 Jun 2004

See also List of world super-bantamweight boxing champions List of world featherweight boxing champions

References

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