Julio Cesar Martinez vs Cristofer Rosales Odds & Picks

• Martinez vs Rosales goes Friday, December 20th at 5:00 pm EST
• Can Martinez maintain his streak of stoppages en route to gold?
• Can Rosales reclaim the throne that he sat on one year ago?

Martinez vs Rosales emanates from Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona. The vacant WBC world flyweight title is up for grabs in this bout. It’s a strong feature fight on a great all-around card. The two 112 lb-ers are remarkably powerful punchers especially Martinez. Both pugilists have held the gold but both have had the belt taken from them through different circumstances. The two are hungry to reclaim the championship and on-paper it looks like one of the best fights you can book in modern boxing. Check out the odds for this title fight and my breakdown of the bout below.

Martinez vs Rosales Odds

Odds taken Dec. 17.

Both men have held this WBC flyweight title with Martinez managing to maintain a hold on it for all of a few minutes. Rosales captured the belt via ninth-round knockout of Daigo Higa in April 2018. Rosales would defend the gold with a fourth-round KO of Paddy Barnes, dropped the belt to Charlie Edwards, and would, in turn, lose it to Martinez.

The WBC would quickly turn around the decision to a no-contest after Martinez landed an illegal punch on Edwards. This is one of the best flyweight bouts you can possibly book nowadays and I see Julio Cesar Martinez emerging victorious from Martinez vs Rosales.

Martinez Gets it Done

Just a couple days shy of one year since losing the gold, Rosales has a chance to get it back. Rosales has an edge in experience with more than double the number of pro fights that Martinez has had. Despite this though Martinez looks to have a better resume overall. Opponents that Rosales has taken losses to, Martinez has dominated in empathic fashion (ex: Andrew Selby and Charlie Edwards).

Martinez has been positioned well on a promotional level and Eddie Hearn seems to be projecting a lot of big things for Martinez in 2020. It’s crazy that Julio Cesar Martinez is still galvanizing his skillset and making such huge strides in overall skillset between bouts.

? Julio Cesar Martinez sharpening the tools ahead of his Matchroom debut… ✨

He fights for the WBC World Flyweight title on our Dec 20 show in Phoenix! ? #MartinezRosales #JacobsChavezJr pic.twitter.com/S6ovDDpZCk

— Matchroom Boxing (@MatchroomBoxing) December 10, 2019

Martinez’s lone pro loss came in his very first bout. He has been on a  14 fight win streak since then and looks to make it 15 on Friday night. Martinez has a near eighty percent KO rate with stoppages in his last nine fights (technically eight since the last fight was overturned to a no-contest after the initial stoppage call).

Martinez is part of the Canelo Alvarez stable and prepares with an elite team. Though Boxing is an individual sport, there’s residual confidence that comes from the collective thriving that can inform solo performance.

Martinez vs Rosales Tale of the Tape

These are two young flyweights in their mid-twenties. Not only are they bringing the speed and youthful exuberance, but both men have also shown they can generate a tremendous amount of power. Both have some highlight reel stoppage wins to their credit.

Though the bout is scheduled for 12 rounds, I don’t see the judges getting involved in this one. A bit of a bold claim considering Rosales has never been finished in his four career defeats. Still, I predict that Martinez will score a (T)KO victory inside of six rounds.

Pick: Julio Cesar Martinez (-600)