Interview Dated February 2007 Light Middleweight Lupe Martinez Lupe Martinez was one of the first people photographed for HoustonBoxingScene.com, in June of 2004 at the (now closed) Canalito Boxing Gym near downtown. At that time the 29-year-old Sugarland native was one of the rising young stars in the area, with a record of 13-0 with a 9 KO's. But after a loss to Francisco Diaz in Kansas City in September of 2004 , Martinez dropped out of the scene. He returned earlier this year with a new manager, new trainers and a new focus, setting his sights on the upper levels of his weight class. I spoke with him after a recent workout at the Savannah Boxing Club. HBS - How'd you first get involved in boxing? LM - I started when I was 20. I started fighting amateurs with Mr. Walt Hailey. I was with him four years amateur until just recently this year when I switched trainers. HBS - How'd you get hooked up with Walt? LM - I just walked into the (Main) gym and met Walt. He started training me and we went from there. HBS - What is it that you enjoy about the sport? LM - I enjoy the discipline, the hard work. A lot of the work you've got to motivate yourself. I give the trainers a lot of credit but then a lot of it you've got to motivate yourself. There's a lot of guys that are real good fighters, real good boxers but at the same time you've got to enjoy it. If you enjoy it you can go far. Thanks to God I enjoy it. HBS - Tell us about your amateur career. LM - Well I had about 60 fights and lost ten of those to some of the top-ranked fighters in the nation at that time. So the amateurs was really just a learning experience for me. HBS - So you turned pro and went undefeated for 13 fights before losing. LM - At that time I was working, I had a full-time job, I was training and I was a full-time father so I had so much responsibilities on me where I could never be 100 percent in boxing. I was always good enough to win but then it got to the point where the competition got tough and I was not 100 percent. The last fight I lost, he was a heavier opponent in his home town. I wasn't doing my running, I was out of shape. I struggled to make weight and we went the distance, (8 rounds) I lost the decision to him. HBS - So in those first 13 fights, tell us about your most satisfying win so far as a pro. LM - I think it would be my sixth fight. I was 5-0 with four knockouts and I fought a guy named Chance Leggett. (Editor's Note:--Leggett is now 11-7 with 5 KO's fighting out of Lake Charles, Louisiana.) He was 3-0 with three knockouts. So you can just imagine, it was a war. I got knocked down in the first or second round but I got up and finished strong the rest of the way and won a unanimous decision. So it was a very fun and exciting fight for me. HBS - So when you're 13-0 and finally you have your first loss that had to be tough, kind of shake you. What was going through your mind after that? LM - After I lost I was a little discouraged but I knew that it was my conditioning. I was not ready for that fight. Like I said I was not 100 percent. There were a lot of responsibilities I had. I wasn't able to do all my running and proper training and then about a month after that fight I got married. We already had a set wedding planned so we were running around getting the wedding prepared so after I got married I decided just to take some time off to get situated and now we're back. HBS - So you've been off for about a year and a half and you've been back training since June. LM - Yes, I was blessed to have met a man named Johnathan Bender. He's now my manager so he's helping me out so I can just focus on training, on boxing. He's paying me a monthly salary so that's helping me out somewhat to get back into shape now so everything is fine. There's no reason I can't be 100 percent. HBS - So it's got to be kind of rough when you get back into it after laying off for more than a year. LM - Well it's kind of tough. We took it slow and got my muscles, my bones, everything back into it. We progressed a lot. I was up to 215 pounds at the itime when I came back. Now I'm back down to about 170 so we've progressed a lot. HBS - You mentioned discipline and so when you were in the ring during the beginning of your workout shadowboxing it almost looked like Tai Chi because you were so precise in your movements and your routine. LM - You have to be, especially when you shadowbox, everything you do when it comes to boxing you've got to really focus and concentrate and pretend that you're actually in a fight. When you shadowbox you've got to pretend like there's a fighter in front of you. You've not going to get sloppy when there's a fighter in front of you so you've got to be precise with your movements. HBS - You've been doing some sparring and it looks like you've coming along really well. LM - I give a lot of credit to Mr. Walt Hailey. I was with him for so many years then we made the move over here to Savannah's Gym and now Cedric Williams is my main trainer now and his assistant is Tim (Knight) and they're doing great also. They push me, they motivate me and I want to give some thanks to them as well. HBS - So now you've looking to fight next month. LM - In late January we should get rolling and we're trying to stay busy. As long as I don't get hurt or cut we're going to try to get at least eight fights in 2007. HBS - You fought as a light middleweight? LM - Yes, and I was already in the top 50 in the world at the time, I think I was like 44 in the world and for just only having 13 fights I think that was a good accomplishment and our goal is to get to the top 10 by the end of 2007 and then 2008 make a run for the title. HBS - So what do you think of the titleholders in that division right now? LM - Well they're tough. The light middleweight and welterweight divisions have always been real tough. There's always a lot of competition there. Even the ones that are not titleholders, just the top 10, it's very tough to get in there.