It’s been a long time coming for Reading’s Eric Martinez.
The 20-year-old fought in more than 100 amateur bouts before finally making his professional debut on April 3 in Allentown at Archer Music Venue in front of a packed crowd.
Representing Star City Boxing and Red Owl Promotions, the 20-year-old won his first professional bout against Chris Karagiannis by TKO in the third round, starting his pro career on the right foot.
“Honestly, I just felt like it was a long time coming,” Martinez said. “I was super confident. I took it as, this is what I’ve been wanting for years. I embraced every moment, even being nervous all day, I embraced everything.”
Martinez has dreamed of fighting professionally since he was a kid, starting boxing at 6 years old. He has been a long-time member of Star City Boxing, representing Reading on his journey to the pros.
Finally, with the opportunity in front of him, he seized the moment and put on a show on the big stage under the bright lights.
“We’re extremely proud of Eric,” Star City Boxing owner Alex Betances said of Martinez. “7 or 8 years ago when we started working with him, he’s been a professional his whole life. He’s carried himself maturely. He’s been preparing for his first pro fight for a couple of years now, and started shifting to the pro style years ago, and he was still winning (in amateurs). So the transition in this business was very smooth.”
Betances added that from start to finish, Martinez remained patient, looking like he is five fights into his professional career.
Karagiannis, from St. Louis, Missouri, was also making his pro debut.
Martinez, an amateur-level state and national champion, admitted that nerves got to him early in the first round. He even became a little fatigued while trying to calm his nerves and adrenaline, despite a strong camp where he felt he was in great shape.
It was also a first for Martinez, fighting without headgear, which felt different early on. However, after the first-round bell rang and his team calmed him down, Martinez settled in and fought his fight.
Fighting on the main card in the 126-pound division, Martinez began landing his shots in the second round before the third round began.
“By round three, I was fully back to myself, and listened to my corner, which told me, “Go to the body” and that got the job done,” Martinez said.
The finishing blow was a hook to the rib/kidney area that sent Karagiannis to both knees before the referee called it a TKO with 1:55 remaining in the third round. Martinez celebrated by jumping onto his corner’s ropes.
“That crowd was crazy. I’ve fought in front of a hometown crowd before, so usually that doesn’t get to me, but when I won and jumped on the ropes and I saw everybody going crazy,” Martinez said. “A lot of family and friends were there. They were hype. It was just a good moment. It felt like everything I dreamed about, it exceeded that.”
Commentating the match was former boxing world champion Danny Garcia, who said the energy in the arena shifted once Martinez made his way to the ring during his pre-match walkout.
Both of Martinez’s coaches also gave high praise to the young boxer for how he carried himself on such a big night, where some athletes can be engulfed by the pressure of truly beginning their careers.
“Eric’s first test as a professional was a display of breaking down a come forward fighter through angles, a vicious body attack and controlling the distance,” coach Lindsay Bates said. “Extremely proud of his boxing IQ.”
“He had a great performance Friday night,” coach Julian Cruz said. “It started out a little rocky in the beginning, but he gathered himself more throughout the fight. He started putting punches together and countered beautifully. Overall, it was a wonderful display of boxing.”
Martinez mentioned that he learned a lot during his camp leading up to his debut.
He dropped from 139 pounds to 125 pounds to make weight, and rather than waiting until the week of the fight, he prepared for months so he could get used to being at the correct weight.
Even though it was a difficult camp, he said it was fun, especially since the work paid off for him.
However, one downside, and a struggle at times, wasn’t so much the strength and conditioning aspect of camp, but rather staying on the correct diet and watching what he ate.
“It was hard. I was going out and chilling with my friends, and I would see them eating all this food, and I had to be disciplined to not eat any of that food that I really wanted to eat,” Martinez said. “I would come home from the gym, and I couldn’t eat after a certain time. I would go to sleep hungry. But it was all worth it.”
After the win, Martinez went all out, feasting on chicken alfredo, lemon pepper wings and an entire box of pizza.
As Martinez and his team look ahead, there is still a ton of work to do with just the first brick laid. They are aiming for one or two more fights within the calendar year.
“If it were up to me, I would have said like next week, but hopefully sometime soon, my team will definitely work on it,” Martinez said, eager to get back in the ring.
Typically, boxers take a few months between fights, recovering and getting back to where they want to be before taking on another grueling camp.
But with Martinez’s age and eagerness to walk out under the bright lights again, it’s likely he’ll return to the ring in the near future, possibly this summer.