CHRISTOPHER MARTIN W10 CHRIS AVALOS

Master against pupil, man versus boy, call it what you will, but there was no doubt that Christopher Martin outclassed bantamweight prospect Chris Avalos in the main event on ShoBox on Friday night. The fight wasn’t even close, yet it will go down in the records as a split decision win for Martin.
 
The scorecard of judge John Mariano that had Avalos winning by 98-94 was, for me, the worst scorecard in a bout held in the U.S. since Nevada judge Doug Tucker gave Jose Navarro every round in a fight with Cristian Mijares, with Mijares deservedly winning on the other two judges’ cards.
 
Judges Rob Hecko and Denny Nelson got it right, marking Martin ahead by scores of 98-92 and 97-93 respectively.
 
Martin, 24, boxed a crafty, controlled fight, jabbing Avalos’s head back on his shoulders and nailing his 20-year-old opponent time and again with left hooks and right hands. In fact, it was as if Martin couldn’t miss with the hook.
 
When Avalos tried to come on with pressure, Martin slipped punches, ducked or blocked them, or rolled with the blows like a ring mechanic from a past era. This was a very impressive display of boxing from Martin who, although unbeaten, was not a highly regarded fighter — at least, he wasn’t before this fight. “We’ll look at him differently now,” observed Showtime analyst Steve Farhood. Indeed we will.
 
Avalos had seemed to be a rising star, an exciting, undefeated puncher who had stopped eight of his last nine opponents. In this fight, though, Avalos seemed almost clueless. He tried to switch to a southpaw stance, tried to jab and counter, launched some sporadic attacks but couldn’t find anything that would work for him
 
Martin not only looked the better fighter, he also looked the puncher in the fight. There seemed no real zip in Avalos’s punches — when he could land anything, that is. He was taken to school by a clever technician who looked much the bigger, stronger man, having boxed as a featherweight in his last fight in June. The Avalos camp allowed Martin to come in at 120 pounds, two over the match weight of 118 pounds. Martin apparently was originally three and a half pounds over but lost one and a half pounds. Avalos came in at 118. Two pounds might not seem much, but a two-pound advantage can mean a lot in the lighter weight classes. Also, Steve Farhood informed viewers after the fight, Avalos had looked drained at the weigh-in.
 
The signs were there in the first round that this was not going to be a good night for Avalos. He looked tentative, ill at ease, and showed Martin considerable respect. By the third round Martin was dropping his hands in a show of confidence and in the fifth I wrote in my notebook: “This fight is over,” as indeed it was, although not in the eyes of one of the Minnesota judges.