TIJUANA, MEXICO (January 10, 2013)—WBO number-one ranked Jr. Lightweight Juan Carlos “Mini” Burgos (30-1, 20 KO’s) is finishing up a hard training camp preparing for his WBO world title bout on January 19th against Roman “Rocky” Martinez (26-1-1, 16 KO’s) at the Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City that will be part of a championship tripleheader televised Live on HBO.

Burgos has what he has termed the best training camp of his life as he prepares for his second opportunity for a world championship title.

Burgos believes that his past experience of competing for a title will serve him well.

Back on November 26, 2010, Burgos dropped a hotly contested decision to Hozumi Hasegawa in Japan in his lone attempt at a world title.

“I don’t want to let this opportunity get away from me. I have been in this position before when I faced Hasegawa and I know I could’ve done much better that night. I could have been a life changing victory for me but I let that one get away. Not this time,” said Burgos

Continued Burgos, “I have grown mentally and physically and I am prepared for a fight like this and I know it will be exciting.”

Since that setback, Burgos has wins over two undefeated fighters in Luis Cruz (19-0) and Cesar Vazquez (25-0) as well as former world champion Cristobal Cruz.

“I have to show the whole world what I am capable of, Martinez is the champ so I have to get that belt away from him, it won’t be easy but I know I can do it.”

Burgos wants to win this title in exciting fashion in front of a huge audience on HBO and the knowledgeable boxing crowd inside a sold out Madison Square Garden.

“Not only do I want to get the victory and be a champion but I want to please the crowd and make sure that the fans get their monies worth.”

This fight will be an emotional fight for Burgos as he is dedicating the bout to his uncle and former Light Flyweight champion Victor “El Acorazado” Burgos who won his world title, almost ten years to the day (February 15, 2003), with a scintillating 12th round stoppage over Puerto Rican Alex Sanchez.

Victor Burgos was nearly fatally injured on his final bout against Vic Darchinyan in 2007; he has had a miraculous recovery and currently works for Tijuana’s City Hall.

Juan Carlos and Victor had a chance to chat over the holidays as the former champion shared his experience and motivated the young challenger.

“It was inspiring for me to hear my uncle tell me the story of his first world title victory and how it was nearly 10 years to the date of my fight. He battled it out against Puerto Rican Alex “Nene” Sanchez back in 2003. He finally got that belt after many fights in which he was not that lucky. Now I just want to keep the tradition and make my family proud.”

The LIVE HBO tripleheader fistic action that is set to take place on January 19th will air 9:45 (ET/PT).

TIJUANA, MEXICO (SEPTEMBER 27, 2012)— Juan Carlos Burgos is ready for his mandated challenge against newly crowned WBO Jr. Lightweight champion Roman “Rocky” Martinez.

Burgos of Tijuana, Mexico is promoted by Thompson Boxing and Banner Promotions.

Burgos, 30-1 with twenty knockouts is now ranked number-one by the WBO and has been informed that Martinez must defend against him next.

Since his one blemish which came in his only world title opportunity against Hozumi Hasegawa, Burgos has won five in a row against top competition such as contenders Frankie Archueta, Gilberto Sanchez Leon; undefeated upstarts in Luis Cruz and Cesar Vazquez as well as former world champion Cristobal Cruz.

“I am ready for Rocky Martinez, he showed his ability on his fight against Beltran Jr., and was the deserving of the title, but I’m ready to challenge him for it,” said Burgos from his native Tijuana, Mexico.

“I want to thank the WBO for giving me this opportunity which I had a chance for before,” reminisced Burgos who fought and lost a title bout against Hozumi Hasegawa in Nagoya, Japan. “I won’t let this one get away from me, I want to fulfill my destiny with the WBO belt around my waist, I just need to know the date so I can prepare to go to war with Martinez”

“Juan Carlos is a young warrior that has been waiting for his shot at the title. We are confident he will make the best of it but it will not be an easy task against a good fighter like Rocky Martinez. It should be a great fight for the fans and we are proud to have gotten Burgos back where he belongs”, Said Alex Camponovo General Manager and Matchmaker of Thompson Boxing

“Juan Carlos has shown that he is more than ready for this opportunity”, said Artie Pelullo CEO of Banner Promotions

“He has defeated the best at 130 pounds and we are very confident that he will defeat Martinez in what should be a fabulous fight. This will be another classic fight between Puerto Rican and Mexican fighters”

Martinez, 26-1-1 with sixteen knockouts won the title with a twelve round split decision victory over Miguel Beltran Jr. on September 15th on the Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. – Sergio Martinez Pay Per View card.

LAS VEGAS – And in an instant, Martinez-Chavez went from Pacquiao-De La Hoya to Chavez-Taylor.

Not since Manny Pacquiao retired Oscar De La Hoya had a small southpaw looked so profoundly dominant against a larger titlist as Sergio Martinez looked against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. for 11 rounds. And not since Chavez Sr. came back to stop Meldrick Taylor in the final seconds of a fight he was losing lopsidedly had such a profound change of fortunes been brought to a world champion the way Chavez brought it to Martinez in the 12th.

Saturday night, in a match at Thomas & Mack Arena that disappointed all expectations of suspense for 33 minutes before becoming an unforgettable thing in its final three, Argentine middleweight champion Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez (50-2-2, 28 KOs) rose from the canvas in the final round to survive and decision Mexican Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (46-1-1-1, 32 KOs) by unanimous scores of 117-110, 118-109 and 118-109. The 15rounds.com ringside scorecard concurred, marking 117-110 for Martinez – while marking the final round 10-7 for Chavez.

“We are two professionals,” Martinez said afterwards. “And we comported ourselves as professionals.”

The fight began the way all prognosticators believed it would. Martinez’s class was too much for Chavez in the first round and each of its successors. What little sense of geometry Chavez showed in the opening round, extending Martinez’s circles to the perimeter somewhat, was gone by the third.

“I began slowly,” Chavez said in the ring after the judges’ cards were read. “But I will not do that in the rematch.”

In fact, not till the sixth round did Chavez land anything consequential. Though Chavez was the much larger man, Martinez was the far more balletic, polished, athletic and accurate, hitting Chavez with nifty left uppercut leads and other inventive combinations. Chavez, sporting a knee brace and suffering abrasions and swelling round both eyes, was not dissuaded, however.

“This confirms me in boxing,” said Martinez, to an outnumbered but surprisingly vocal Argentinean group of fans. “Long live Argentina!”

More fatigued than he knew as the bell for the 12th rang, Martinez walked into a short Chavez left hook that wobbled and shocked him in the final two minutes. Martinez’s eyes bulged and he collapsed in the ropes. A pair of rights and lefts from Chavez then tossed him limply to the canvas. But Martinez rose, ran, held, slipped, and ultimately punched his way to the final bell, as suddenly enchanted Mexican fans rabidly urged their man on.

“Of course,” Martinez said when asked if he would grant Chavez a rematch.

“Long live Mexico!” cried Chavez at the end of his postfight interview.

ROMAN MARTINEZ VS. MIGUEL BELTRAN JR.
In an attempt at prophecy, or at least wishful thinking, Saturday’s excellent Top Rank co-main event featured a hard-pressing Mexican slugger named “Junior” against a foreigner named Martinez. Unfortunately for the emotional Mexican crowd, the Mexican did not prevail.

Fighting for a vacant WBO super featherweight title, Puerto Rican Roman Martinez (26-1-1, 16 KOs) sneaked past Mexican Miguel Beltran Jr. (27-2-0-1, 17 KOs), besting him by split-decision scores of 116-111, 113-114 and 113-114. The fight would have been a majority draw, were it not for a penalty assessed to Beltran in the championship rounds.

Each round of Martinez-Beltran featured punches both well leveraged and well landed by both fighters, but in each of the opening six rounds, regardless of what Martinez did, Beltran appeared to do a little more. In the sixth, Beltran landed the match’s most-devastating punch, a right cross that snapped Martinez’s head back between his own shoulder blades.

The seventh round, though, saw Martinez begin to establish a more effective attack, catching Beltran on the way in, with oddly placed punches. But by the middle of the eighth, Beltran again appeared the stronger man. By the end of the 10th, Martinez, game as he was, did not appear to want much more.

The 11th brought a point deduction to Beltran’s tally from overly officious Nevada referee Russell Mora, though, tightening ringside scorecards somewhat. Martinez also flurried in the 12th, appearing to steal that stanza as well. Ultimately, the fight was a close one that might have gone either way and probably should have gone the way of a majority draw.

MATTHEW MACKLIN VS. JOACHIM ALCINE
Matthew Macklin makes his ring entrance to a hybrid song of “Mack the Knife” and “Rocky Road to Dublin,” in a two-part nod to his nickname and heritage. But Saturday, he didn’t have to take his opponent very far down a rocky road before knifing him.

In the penultimate match of the evening’s undercard, Macklin (29-4, 20 KOs) caught Canadian middleweight Joachim Alcine (33-3-1, 19 KOs) with a flush right cross in the opening moments of the fight then marched him down, dropped him a second time and brought the match to an exciting knockout conclusion at 2:36 of round 1.

Despite a record with four losses on it, Macklin again proved that he can rally a crowd and make an exciting, satisfying match whomever he is given for an opponent.

GUILLERMO RIGONDEAUX VS. ROBERTO MARROQUIN
After a 2010 showing in Cowboys Stadium that brought loud boos from those fans not yawning, Cuban super bantamweight Guillermo Rigondeaux needed two years of exciting knockouts to make fans forget how displeasing his defense-first style can be. Saturday in Thomas & Mack Arena, though, they were reminded once more.

Rigondeaux (11-0, 8 KOs) successfully, and rather easily, defended his WBA super bantamweight title against tough if limited Texan Roberto Marroquin (22-2, 15 KOs) by unanimous scores of 118-108, 118-108 and 118-109. And if there is a prizefighter today who fights like Floyd Mayweather as well as Mayweather does, he is Rigondeaux, right down to the cautiousness.

Rigondeaux established a superiority of reflex over Marroquin – a superiority of reflex Rigondeaux enjoys over most every opponent he faces – and then put the match on a form of cruise control that did little to entice fans. Possessed of every punch and step in the boxing lexicon, Rigondeaux does not appear to enjoy physical matches with larger men, and he certainly did not look for one with Marroquin, who appeared a weight class or two larger than Rigondeaux on Saturday.

Twice in the match Marroquin managed to land a pulled left hook that temporarily destabilized the Cuban southpaw’s otherwise flawless footing, but from each of those faux scares, Rigondeaux quickly recovered and returned to mastering Marroquin technically if not combatively.

In round 10, bored by Rigondeaux-Marroquin, the crowd – partisan Mexican though with an Argentinean contingent – began to sing futbol songs at one another till the match was over, despite Rigondeaux’s scoring the match’s one knockdown in its final two minutes.

MIKE LEE VS. PAUL HARNESS
Mike Lee is undoubtedly the best light heavyweight on the Notre Dame campus, but he is decidedly not the best light heavyweight in the world. Further evidence of this came at the midway point of Saturday’s undercard when Lee (11-0, 6 KOs) whacked away at Kansas City opponent Paul Harness (4-4-1, 3 KOs) for four rounds and ultimately prevailed by unanmious scores of 40-36, 40-36 and 40-36.

Questions about Lee’s power – he landed at least four clean right hands in every round without once felling Harness – and his defense, though, remain, and grow, with every showing. Despite leading comfortably in the fourth round, Lee nevertheless was tagged by several knee-buckling shots by Harness.

UNDERCARD
Highly regarded super welterweight John Jackson brought his undefeated record in the Thomas & Mack Center ring for Saturday’s third bout, against Cleveland’s Willie Nelson, and Jackson’s ‘0’ left the ring before Jackson did. In a close fight that might have been scored either way, Nelson (19-1-1, 11
KOs) decisioned Nelson (13-1, 12 KOs) by unanimous scores of 96-94, 96-94 and 98-92.

Before that, in an eight-round super welterweight match, Mexican Michael Medina (26-3-2, 19 KOs) scored a lopsided decision victory over North Carolinian James Winchester (15-5, 5 KOs). All three judges had the match 80-70 for Medina.

The evening began with an eight-round, unanimous-decision victory for California welterweight Wale Omotoso (23-0, 19 KOs) over Puerto Rican Daniel Sostre (11-7-1, 4 KOs).

Opening bell rang on a sparsely populated Thomas & Mack Center at 3:17 PM local time.