Luka Plantic displayed similar toughness Saturday night to the countryman who made history halfway around the world several hours earlier.
Unlike Filip Hrgovic, however, Croatia’s Plantic wasn’t able to pull off an upset against a heavily favored, undefeated opponent who had the crowd on his side. Lester Martinez dealt well with Plantic’s non-stop pressure, was the sharper puncher and consistently controlled the action on his way to winning by 10th-round knockout at USC’s Galen Center in Los Angeles, where more Guatemalans live than anywhere outside of his home country.
Martinez seemed well on his way to a decisive decision win when referee Rey Corona curiously declared him the winner of a main event ProBox TV streamed on its YouTube channel. Plantic protested the stoppage because he was on his feet and not badly hurt when Corona stepped between the fighters and ended their scheduled 12-rounder at 2:23 of the 10th.
“I know the power that he had,” Martinez said during his post-fight interview. “Hopefully he goes back to his family safe. But that guy hits [hard].”
Martinez, 30, retained the WBC interim 168-pound championship he won in his previous bout by unanimous decision over Immanuwel Aleem on March 21 in San Bernardino, California.
Martinez (21-0-1, 17 KOs), ranked No. 4 among The Ring’s super middleweight contenders for a vacant championship, hopes his victory leads to facing the winner between Christian Mbilli and Canelo Alvarez next. Mbilli, who fought Martinez to a split draw in one of the best action fights of 2025 nearly a year ago, will defend his WBC super middleweight crown against Alvarez on October 31 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Martinez’s jab to the chest surprisingly dropped Plantic 55 seconds into the 10th. Plantic disputed the knockdown, but the force of the punch sent the off-balance boxer to the canvas.
That shot also might’ve encouraged Corona to stop their bout soon thereafter.
“Little by little, I was landing the bigger shots,” Martinez said. “And I could see that it was taking a toll on him.”
Martinez peppered Plantic (13-1, 10 KOs) with right hands throughout the ninth round. Plantic remained upright, but Corona informed his trainer, Joel Diaz, that he might only give the challenger one more round if he didn’t do better in the 10th.
Plantic wasn’t as reckless in the eighth round as the previous three minutes, but Martinez did more damage with his right hand and remained in control two-thirds of the way through their bout.
Martinez acknowledged Plantic’s toughness by uncharacteristically touching gloves with him when a competitive seventh round concluded. Diaz still criticized his fighter following that round for taking too many punches.
A crisp combination by Plantic made Martinez back toward the ropes with about 20 seconds to go in the sixth round. Martinez seemed frustrated that he couldn’t prevent Plantic from pressing the action.
Plantic played to the pro-Martinez crowd just after the midway mark of the fifth and exchanged after Martinez backed him up with a combination. A flush left hook by Martinez briefly stopped him from coming forward.
Martinez didn’t deter Plantic with a thudding right that connected late in a fourth round that featured several exciting exchanges. Plantic caught Martinez with a hard left to his body as they exchanged in the middle minute of the fourth.
Martinez opened up in the third round, even as Plantic predictably pressed forward, and blasted him with various power punches.
Lopez Scores Strange Stoppage
Najee Lopez recorded a highly unusual knockout in the bout before the main event.
Lopez (17-0, 14 KOs) landed a clearly legal body blow that dropped Juan Carillo (15-1, 11 KOs) with 1:35 to go in the ninth round of this highly competitive battle between unbeaten light heavyweight contenders. That hard right to Carillo’s midsection left the Colombian southpaw writhing in pain.
Referee Edward Hernandez initially called it a low blow, however, and gave Carillo ample time to recover. Carillo finished the ninth on his feet, but the bout nonetheless ended before the 10th began.
An instant replay review by the California State Athletic Commission determined Lopez landed a clean punch in the previous round. He was therefore declared the winner by knockout, despite Hernandez botching the call in real time.
Keith Idec is a senior writer and columnist for The Ring. He can be reached on X @idecboxing
