Lester Martinez has his sights set much further than his title defense on August 29, but the Guatemalan champion knows he has business to deal with first.
Martinez (20-0-1, 16 KOs) will defend his interim WBC super middleweight title against undefeated Croatian contender Luka Plantic (13-0, 10 KOs) at the Galen Center in Los Angeles. While he is focused on maintaining his unbeaten record, Martinez admitted he will be paying close attention to the October showdown between Christian Mbilli and Canelo Alvarez.
“I’m going to watch this fight come up with Canelo and Mbilli. I’m going to be one of the most interested,” Martinez said. “Right now my immediate focus is on Luka and taking care of things on August 29, defending my title. Then we can look forward to that tremendous fight and hope that, yes or no, we fight the winner.”
Martinez believes a win over Plantic should put him in position for either a rematch with Mbilli or a shot at Canelo.
“I’m going to train really hard. I’m going to do everything I can to make things work, so I can defend my title, and then move on to fight either the rematch (against Mbilli) or the fight against Canelo. I hope that after my defense, that’s the fight that comes next.”
Martinez defeated Immanuwel Aleem in March to capture the interim WBC super middleweight title, building on the momentum of his draw with Christian Mbilli last September on Turki Alalshikh’s Las Vegas card. He admitted there were aspects of the Aleem fight he wants to improve before taking on Plantic.
“There was a lot of pressure last time out. There was a lot of pressure to win the belt and perform,” Martinez said. “We learned from them … there is always room for improvement. Aleem showed good resistance. He was a very good, strong opponent. But this time we are going to do things much better. Trust me.”
Martinez also revealed that his training camp will be longer this time around as he prepares for what he described as another dangerous undefeated opponent.
“We’re fighting a very dangerous opponent. There’s a reason why he’s here. He’s in the top 10. He’s undefeated, and he’s earned it. But we’re going to make the adjustments. Our camp is going to be longer this time.”
Although Martinez hopes to secure a shot at the winner of Canelo-Mbilli, the super middleweight division is packed with title holders and top contenders all chasing the same opportunity. His immediate task remains to defend his interim belt against Plantic before any talks of a rematch with Mbilli or a huge fight with Canelo can become a reality.
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Last updated on 2026/06/29 at 23:07
