Julio Cesar Martínez Aguilar (born 27 January 1995) is a Mexican professional boxer who has held the World Boxing Council (WBC) flyweight title from 2019 to 2024.
[1] Martínez was scheduled to fight Andrew Selby on 23 March 2019, in a WBC flyweight title eliminator to determine the next mandatory challenger.
Selby had a great start to the fight, before a clash of heads in the third round cut him along his left eyebrow, for which Martínez was deducted a point.
[5] The two parties avoided going to a purse bid, agreeing to fight at The O2 Arena in London, on the Lomachenko vs Campbell undercard, on 31 August 2019.
Referee Mark Lyson stopped the bout, while WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman reviewed the fight ending sequence.
[8] Edwards' manager Eddie Hearn was elusive as to the rematch, however, claiming that they planned to move up to super flyweight.
WBC decided not to punish him, as the amount of the muscle-forming drug found in his system wasn't deemed sufficient to register any in-competition benefit.
He staggered Calleros with a left hook-right straight combination, before unloading with numerous power punches, which forced the referee Cesar Castanon to stop the fight at the 2:42 minute mark.
[21][22] Martínez was scheduled to defend his title for the third time against the former unified minimumweight world champion Francisco Rodríguez Jr. on 19 December 2020, on the Canelo Álvarez and Callum Smith undercard.
Martínez first knocked Cordova down with a left hook and piled on strikes which forced the referee to stop the fight.
[29] On 4 October 2021, it was revealed that Martínez would face the WBC interim flyweight titleholder McWilliams Arroyo on 19 November 2021, on the undercard of the Demetrius Andrade and Jason Quigley middleweight title fight.
[26] The fight was ruled a no-contest at the end of the second round, due to an accidental clash of heads which caused cut above Arroyo's right.
[31] Martínez faced the former four-weight world champion Román González in the main event of a DAZN broadcast card on 5 March 2022 at junior bantamweight.
[32] Martínez stepped in with less than six weeks notice as replacement for Juan Francisco Estrada, who was forced to withdraw from the fight due to a positive COVID-19 test.
[34] Martínez was expected to face the WBC interim flyweight champion McWilliams Arroyo in a rematch on 25 June 2022, after their first fight ended in a no-contest following an accidental head clash in the third round.
[43] Martínez was scheduled to defend his WBC flyweight title against Angelino Cordova on 16 December 2023 at The Armory in Minneapolis.