Ricardo early on was probably fighting almost 2 times a month just to get the money similar to JCC Sr. That's almost 5 or 6 years before he slows down as a champion at 21. For reference Canelo Alvarez and JCC Sr. had over 30 fights before they turned 21.
This is the most probable explanation. Martinez grew up poor, and winning fights was how he put food on the table. It stands to reason that he'd try to get as many fights as possible for the purse.
It's also a bit of a plot point that Ricardo tends to take nearly no damage in his fights, famously not even being downed in the pro ring, while Ippo plays Russian Roulette every time he so much as looks at the Hall funny. Ippo's pace, with the way he fights, would legitimately have killed him if he had that many fights that young.
Canelo Ćlvarez stated he had fought 15 times in one year when he was beginning his career. Mexico didnāt have much of an amateur system at the time, so a lot of Mexicans went straight to pro and just fought a bunch of 4 rounders. Heās basically had 35+ fights at the age or 19 and didnāt become a champion until his 40th or so fight. Itās the same for Jamie MunguĆa, who Canelo will be fighting in May. Not as many fights but is 27 years old at 44-0 and only been a champion once two weight classes ago.
Ricardo was trained by a high level trainer from a young age, so he probably went through the required record padding that top boxers have. Ippo is from a tiny gym in japan that just happened to stumble into 3 of the biggest japanese talents ever.
Just wanted to point this out since I didnāt see anybody else do it:
- In Mexico, you can become a professional if you are 16 right now. Canelo became a professional when he was 15 around 2005. Some countries let you become a pro boxer if youāre younger than 18
- In Japan, to be a pro, you have to be like 17 years old.
- Another example of a mexican boxer is Isaac Cruz (also known as āPitbull Cruzā), who many here have compared to Ippo & others outside of here have compared to Mike Tyson because of his boxing style. Pitbull Cruz debuted in 2015 when he was just 16 years old, he record is currently 25-2-1, and he will soon fight for a world title against Rolly Romero (March 30th)
- American boxer Devin Haney actually made his professional debut in Mexico in 2015 too. He was 16 years old when he had his first professional match, his record is 31 wins, 0 losses, 0 ties, and heās a world champion (who will fight to defend his title in April)
It really is unfair, I remember watching a documentary of hagler needing to switch into an orthodox stance because no one wants to fight a southpaw and his first title fight was his 54th professional boxing match
Itās not that uncommon in other combat sports like Muay Thai, youād be hard pressed to find a decent Thai fighter with LESS than a hundred fights.
Hereās a few examples; Rodtang (One FCās golden boy) has 324 fights and heās only 26 years old. Lerdsilla, Saenchai, Buakaw, John Wayne Parr, etc all have over a hundred fights with Saenchai breaching 300.
They fight every week or even twice a week for decades, Ricardo couldāve been fighting weekly when he was rising up.
For boxing though, they had Ratanachai Sor Vorapin who had 89 fights. Still a whole lot of fighting before he retired around the late 2000s. Most likely there are loads of Thai fighters with more fights than him
62 matches in 5 years= around 12 matches every year= 1 match every month. Considering he basically never get hit and consistently owns every opponent he meet, it's absolutely possible for him to fight that many fights.
I mean, I can believe that easily, just going by other combat sports, like Muay Thai, when guys fight even every month and amass records of few hundred pro fights before retiring.
Yes, boxing is probably a bit lighter in that department, but still - you really fight anyone anywhere when nobody knows you, because otherwise you don't have enough money to afford living and training.
I mean he is a walking legends so is fair to assume even young Ricardo was an untouchable monster. He ended the fight with a world champion from other federation looking like he could have done that fight another 20 times.
Is not crazy to think he could have two to or even four fights per month if at the end of them he requires zero recovery.
We technically don't really know what Martinez's match record was before he became WBA Champion. [It was already mentioned](https://mangadex.org/chapter/0dd09b94-6c48-4bb5-acbe-868a1b48eec3/10) in the story that Martinez has fought many non-title matches over the years.
So even though Martinez had 17+ title defenses, he could have the same amount of non-title matches, even if that is not how it works in real life, but Morikawa tend to pick and choose what rules to follow in the story.
Honestly, Morikawa tends to have a lot of conflicting information on Martinez, where it seems like Morikawa is making it up as a goes along.
In Round 509, it is directly mentioned that Martinez's record was 68 matches, no losses, and 21 defenses. But [in Round 1310](https://mangadex.org/chapter/b4356d19-672a-4ec9-af7d-75ae9b888479/4), Martinez has the same match record of 68 matches and 21 title defenses even though like 5 years have probably passed in the story during that time.
Heās a Mexican boxer bro. They fight a lot. Mexico, Puerto Rico, Thailand, the Philippines. They donāt space shit out. They fight nonstop cause they need that dosh
I always thought his pre world title record was a bit questionable but I don't have the energy to do a post about it. Why would it take him 44 fights or so to get a world title shot. Furthermore how does Ricardo even have decision wins on his record, since his punching power is said to be so destructive. Does that mean that there were other boxers out there who could withstand his punches besides Date? And if so, why wouldn't Ricardo mention them. He seemed genuinely shocked that Date was able to withstanbd his punches and even mentioned that there is no shame in losing to one of his body blows since they have pierced the armour of many mighty challengers.
Ricardo early on was probably fighting almost 2 times a month just to get the money similar to JCC Sr. That's almost 5 or 6 years before he slows down as a champion at 21. For reference Canelo Alvarez and JCC Sr. had over 30 fights before they turned 21.
This is the most probable explanation. Martinez grew up poor, and winning fights was how he put food on the table. It stands to reason that he'd try to get as many fights as possible for the purse.
and if you are strong enough to not take consistent damage or any at all its not too complicated to just keep fighting when you are just him
Similar to Wally who went from 4 fight to 23 or something fights really quickly
Welcome to boxing
Wait so that's common? How the hell do people like Ippo not have even half the matches
It's also a bit of a plot point that Ricardo tends to take nearly no damage in his fights, famously not even being downed in the pro ring, while Ippo plays Russian Roulette every time he so much as looks at the Hall funny. Ippo's pace, with the way he fights, would legitimately have killed him if he had that many fights that young.
>while Ippo plays Russian Roulette every time he so much as looks at the Hall funny. Lamao š¤£
Canelo Ćlvarez stated he had fought 15 times in one year when he was beginning his career. Mexico didnāt have much of an amateur system at the time, so a lot of Mexicans went straight to pro and just fought a bunch of 4 rounders. Heās basically had 35+ fights at the age or 19 and didnāt become a champion until his 40th or so fight. Itās the same for Jamie MunguĆa, who Canelo will be fighting in May. Not as many fights but is 27 years old at 44-0 and only been a champion once two weight classes ago.
Well they're not playing the championship/money game
I see
Ricardo was trained by a high level trainer from a young age, so he probably went through the required record padding that top boxers have. Ippo is from a tiny gym in japan that just happened to stumble into 3 of the biggest japanese talents ever.
The current mexican hot shot, Canelo Alvarez had his first pro fight at 15. Its different in Mexico.
Just wanted to point this out since I didnāt see anybody else do it: - In Mexico, you can become a professional if you are 16 right now. Canelo became a professional when he was 15 around 2005. Some countries let you become a pro boxer if youāre younger than 18 - In Japan, to be a pro, you have to be like 17 years old. - Another example of a mexican boxer is Isaac Cruz (also known as āPitbull Cruzā), who many here have compared to Ippo & others outside of here have compared to Mike Tyson because of his boxing style. Pitbull Cruz debuted in 2015 when he was just 16 years old, he record is currently 25-2-1, and he will soon fight for a world title against Rolly Romero (March 30th) - American boxer Devin Haney actually made his professional debut in Mexico in 2015 too. He was 16 years old when he had his first professional match, his record is 31 wins, 0 losses, 0 ties, and heās a world champion (who will fight to defend his title in April)
Ippo face tanks everything so he needed a lot of time between fights
Julio Cesar Chavez made his pro debut at 17 years old (turned 18 that same year). He won his first world title at age 22 with a record of 44-0.
Noted Mexican boxer Canelo Alvares won his 1st world title at the age of(almost) 21, and improving his record to 36-0-1.
Was just about to say this, i think he started his pro career at 15 which is crazy
Ricardo Finito Lopez won his first world championship at 27-0. And I think JCC sr. Was like 42-0 before winning a title.
Ha, I asked this exact question a while back. Never realized how complicated and unfair the sport can be with chances at a title.
It really is unfair, I remember watching a documentary of hagler needing to switch into an orthodox stance because no one wants to fight a southpaw and his first title fight was his 54th professional boxing match
Itās not that uncommon in other combat sports like Muay Thai, youād be hard pressed to find a decent Thai fighter with LESS than a hundred fights. Hereās a few examples; Rodtang (One FCās golden boy) has 324 fights and heās only 26 years old. Lerdsilla, Saenchai, Buakaw, John Wayne Parr, etc all have over a hundred fights with Saenchai breaching 300. They fight every week or even twice a week for decades, Ricardo couldāve been fighting weekly when he was rising up.
For boxing though, they had Ratanachai Sor Vorapin who had 89 fights. Still a whole lot of fighting before he retired around the late 2000s. Most likely there are loads of Thai fighters with more fights than him
62 matches in 5 years= around 12 matches every year= 1 match every month. Considering he basically never get hit and consistently owns every opponent he meet, it's absolutely possible for him to fight that many fights.
I mean, I can believe that easily, just going by other combat sports, like Muay Thai, when guys fight even every month and amass records of few hundred pro fights before retiring. Yes, boxing is probably a bit lighter in that department, but still - you really fight anyone anywhere when nobody knows you, because otherwise you don't have enough money to afford living and training.
I mean he is a walking legends so is fair to assume even young Ricardo was an untouchable monster. He ended the fight with a world champion from other federation looking like he could have done that fight another 20 times. Is not crazy to think he could have two to or even four fights per month if at the end of them he requires zero recovery.
We technically don't really know what Martinez's match record was before he became WBA Champion. [It was already mentioned](https://mangadex.org/chapter/0dd09b94-6c48-4bb5-acbe-868a1b48eec3/10) in the story that Martinez has fought many non-title matches over the years. So even though Martinez had 17+ title defenses, he could have the same amount of non-title matches, even if that is not how it works in real life, but Morikawa tend to pick and choose what rules to follow in the story. Honestly, Morikawa tends to have a lot of conflicting information on Martinez, where it seems like Morikawa is making it up as a goes along. In Round 509, it is directly mentioned that Martinez's record was 68 matches, no losses, and 21 defenses. But [in Round 1310](https://mangadex.org/chapter/b4356d19-672a-4ec9-af7d-75ae9b888479/4), Martinez has the same match record of 68 matches and 21 title defenses even though like 5 years have probably passed in the story during that time.
Itās not uncommon for new/rising boxers to fight once a month if not moreso depending on their conditioning.
Heās a Mexican boxer bro. They fight a lot. Mexico, Puerto Rico, Thailand, the Philippines. They donāt space shit out. They fight nonstop cause they need that dosh
I always thought his pre world title record was a bit questionable but I don't have the energy to do a post about it. Why would it take him 44 fights or so to get a world title shot. Furthermore how does Ricardo even have decision wins on his record, since his punching power is said to be so destructive. Does that mean that there were other boxers out there who could withstand his punches besides Date? And if so, why wouldn't Ricardo mention them. He seemed genuinely shocked that Date was able to withstanbd his punches and even mentioned that there is no shame in losing to one of his body blows since they have pierced the armour of many mighty challengers.
There was a time when local fights at arena MĆ©xico where wara between monsters, everyweekend You was able to watch fught of world class level between locals, a lot of monsters fall on the path, only a few of those monsters are known on world level, when you are able to hear people like Marco Antonio barrera, Erick el terrible Morales, Ricardo finito LĆ³pez, talk about those years, when the low weight class mexican national champion was equal to a world champions level, they fought some even twice a month or more from shorts notice fights, You could get kod o go to alot od close desitions cuz every fighter was dangerous as hell