Reiya Abe picked up the biggest win of his career to land in the featherweight title picture.
A terrific boxing performance exhibited by the resurgent contender was enough to soundly outpoint former two-division titlist Kiko Martinez. Judges Robert Hoyle (117-111), Don Trella (119-109) and Steve Weisfeld (119-109) were unanimous in scoring for Abe in their IBF featherweight title eliminator Saturday at Ariake Arena in Tokyo.
The crossroads battle saw Spain's Martinez start out in his usual aggressive fashion as he attempted to bully the Japanese southpaw seven years his junior. Abe survived a couple of brief rocky moments in the early rounds to settle down and take over the fight on the strength of his straight left hands and superior boxing skills.
Abe's performance was particularly impressive as he dealt with a deep cut over his right eye, which remarkably never became a factor in the fight. Martinez was not without his own wounds, as his right eye was swollen from the number of straight left hands landed by Abe whose superior work rate was the difference throughout the fight.
Martinez attempted to chop down Abe's lean body in the later rounds but was unable to pin down his lean and fleet footed opponent. Abe wisely used the ring to force Martinez to follow him and still managed to significantly outwork the 19-year ring veteran.
The win is the sixth in a row for Abe, who advanced to 25-3-1 (10KOs) and is now the IBF featherweight mandatory challenger. The title is held by Luis Alberto Lopez, who travels to the Belfast hometown of 2012 Olympic Bronze medalist and former title challenger Michael Conlan on May 27 for his first title defense.
Martinez fell to 44-12-2 (30KOs) with the defeat, the second in his past three starts. For now, it stalls the hope for Martinez's bid to become a three-time titleholder in two weight divisions.
Martinez previously held the IBF title at both junior featherweight and featherweight, the latter reign courtesy of an upset sixth-round knockout of Kid Galahad in a November 2021 upset win in Sheffield, England. The reign was short-lived, as he suffered a seventh-round defeat to Josh Warrington to end his reign last March on the road in Leeds.
The bout aired live on ESPN+ as the opener of a five-fight telecast. Headlining the show, lineal/WBA/WBC junior flyweight champion Kenshiro Teraji (20-1, 12KOs) defends his crown versus late replacement Anthony Olascuaga (5-0, 3KOs).
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for krikya360.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox