58" welterweight Angelica AngelMartinez was born on May 21, 1976 in Oceanside, California. She now fights out of Dallas, Texas.
In middle school Angel was more of amusician ... Most of my family that I knew weremusicians", she days, "so I thought maybe thats what I should try." She played the alto saxophone all theway through college.
Growing up had not been easyfor her. She was bullied for most of her childhood and as time wentby was bound and determined to become something other than what herpeers made her out to be. Martinez's mother worked twojobs just to be able to make ends meet for her brother and her. "Itwas hard not having her around most of the time, so I always had tofind a way to defend myself," added Martinez.
Martinez began her athletic career in high school. I grew up wanting to do nothing but playbasketball", she told WBAN, "and thats what I did everyday when I was a kid. In the summer of 1990 she wasselected to play AAU basketball and went to tournaments in Mexicoand Europe representing the United States. She went on tograduate in the top ten in her class and earned a basketballscholarship to Southwest Texas State University. She later lost thatscholarship due to a knee injury. That really depressed me. I started drinking alot and lost all hope. Once the knee mended, Martinez joined the Marine Corps and spent two years at Camp Pendleton specializing in explosives. She later began working as abartender and moved to Dallas to start over.
Angel told WBAN that she "accidentally" discovered boxing while trying to lose weight she gained since losing herbasketball scholarship. She went to a gym in Arlington, Texas where she met atrainer named Jose. Hes the one whointroduced me to the whole idea of boxing. He said it was the bestcardio, she says. However, Jose never showed up to the gymso Angel went on to learn what she could from what was around her. Iwas so desperate for training that I started training with thewrestlers that worked out there. They threw me around and all kindsof stuff.
Bent on learning the art of boxingshe sought out someone who would not think she was a joke, and out of curiosity, she attended an amateur tournament. That ignited herinterest and she told a friend that she wouldnt mindcompeting. Her friend laughed and said that she was too old and thatshe couldnt do it. Thats all it took, she says. Her interest in boxingsteadily turned into a passion and thats all she could think of.
She competed in five amateur bouts and with four ending in RSCshe decided to take her trainers advice and go pro. She dedicatedherself to boxing so much that all her money went to equipment and training. Living out of her truck and trainingsix days a week she finally got her shot at her pro debut.
On July 5, 2003, Martinez (149½ lbs) made herpro debut at Club Life in Dallas, winning by a unanimous (40-36,40-36,40-6) decisionover Morgan McCarly (150 lbs) of Rosenburg, Texas, who fell to 1-1. With all I had gone through to this point there was no way Iwas gonna go at it half way. It was all or nothing, said Martinez.
On August 28, 2003 at the Worthington Hotel in Fort Worth, Texas Angel (141 lbs) knocked out Mary Wells (139½ lbs) of San Antonio, Texas at 1:48 of the second round. Mary fell to 3-2 while Angel was getting a taste of what was to come!
On December 12, 2003 at the Kiva Auditorium in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Angel weighed in at 142 lbs and faced undefeated local favorite Holly Holm (144 lbs). Holm won by a six-round unanimous (59-54,59-55,59-55) decision and improved her record to 6-0-1 (2 KO). Martinez told WBAN,Holm was heavily favored to win. But again, it was a clash ofstyles as Holms kickboxing background showed against a well-timedclassic boxing style.
On May 15, 2004 at the Sky Ute Casino in Ignacio, Colorado,Holly Holm and Angel fought to a six-round majority draw(59-55 for Holm, but two 57-57 scorecards). Holm appeared to control and outlandMartinez but Martinez's crisp rights connected enough to win her several roundson the judges' scorecards.Martinez started slowly while the southpaw Holmpeppered her with jabs and an occasional straight left. At the end of the round,they started to mix it up and Martinez landed a good right inside. Martinez tookover in the second round, walking Holm into a solid short right whenever Hollytried to throw something at close quarters. Holm adjusted in the third andout-hustled a less-busy Martinez. In the fourth, they went toe-to-toe with Holm,now bleeding from her nose, giving more than she was getting. Holly landed wellwith uppercuts and right hooks while Martinez focused on her highly effectiveright. The final two rounds saw Holm trying to outbox Martinez, throwing moreoften and out- flurrying on their many close exchanges, but Martinez landing thecleanest, hardest shots. Both camps thought theyd won the fight. Martinezstrainer, Pete Rojas, thought that Angel's cleaner shots should have given herthe win while Holms trainer, Mike Winkeljohn,felt that Holly had won by controlling the action better. Holm moved to7-0-2 (3 KOs) while Martinez progressed to 2-1-1, (2 KOs).
On November 5, 2005 Martinez returned to the ringto meet Tanya Gallegos ofColorado in the Southside Boxing Pavilion in Dallas, Texas. She dominatedGallegos for four rounds and won by a 40-36 on all three judges' scorecards, dropping Gallegos to 3-3. Her inactivity showed in the ring andMartinez felt that she was far from showing the world of boxing what she was madeof.
It wasnt until 2006 that she got a good chance to prove herself.
On June 10, 2006 at the Isleta Casino in Albuquerque, Holly Holm (145¼ lbs) again had her hands full in her third fight with Angel (147¼ lbs), who had substituted at short notice for Lisa Holewyne in a ten-round bout for the WBA Welterweight title. It all happened really fast", Angel told WBAN, "I was coming into the gymon Wednesday only to find out my trainer was on the phone to fightthat Saturday. Holly Holm started well in this fight but had to survive a late-round charge from the aggressive Martinez to escape with a hard-earned unanimous (98-92) decision for the title. Holm improved her record to 14-1-2 (5 KOs) with the win whileMartinez fell to 4-2-1 (1 KO).
On July 8, 2006 at Fitzgerald's Casino in Tunica, Mississippi, Angel (146 lbs) won a six-round majority decision (59-55, 58-56, 57-57) over Miriam Brakache (145 lbs) of Atlanta, Georgia, who fell to 4-3-0 (1 KO) with the loss.
On October 6, 2006 at the Coeur d'Alene Casino in Worley, Idaho, Angel won a ten-round unanimous (97-96,97-93,96-94) decision over women's boxing legend Christy Martin of Orlando, Florida, who fell to 46-5-2 (31 KO's).
The crowd showed their support for the new star with a deafening ovation as she was declared the winner. After the fight Martinez had this to say. "I came in the fight in great condition and really didn't know what to expect. We formulated no specific plan, and just wanted to see what she had before we made our adjustments," said a very humble Martinez . "She is a great Champion, but I came here to win, not be an opponent. My corner made the right decisions during the fight and by round 3 or 4 I felt comfortable that we could win." When asked if she thought she was going to get the decision, the shy, reserved Martinez paused a long while then smiled and said, "I thought I won, but you never know. I landed the harder punches. She never hurt me at all. There were no surprises." After taking a deep breath Angelica Martinez's eyes got as big as saucers. It must have just sunken in that she was now a real player in women's boxing.
She later told the Dallas Voice that she thought Christy's strengths were her power and head movement, but "shes very wide with her punches, which allows you to see everything before they hit their mark. She also has poor conditioning shes used to knocking out everyone with just one punch. Thats not much of a strategy."
On May 25, 2007 at the Orleans Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Layla McCarter (144 lbs) of Las Vegas, Nevada won a six-round unanimous (60-54,60-54,60-54) decision over Angel (146 lbs), who fell to 6-3-1 (1 KO) while McCarter improved to 24-13-5 (5 KO's).
On September 21, 2007 at the Santa Ana Star Casino in Bernalillo, New Mexico, Holly Holm (142 lbs) of Albuquerque won the IFBA Welterweight title with a 10-round unanimous (99-91,99-91,96-94) decision over Angel (142 lbs). Holm outboxed Martinez for the most of the first eight rounds but Martinez stunned her with several hard rights in the eighth and the late rounds became nail-biters as the two traded punishing shots. "I don't take anything from Angel," Holm said after the bout. "She's tough. Her right hands are no joke." Martinez also praised Holm: "She's an awesome fighter, the best in the world at welter. What can I say? I don't have excuses. It just wasn't my night." Holm improved her record to
On June 12, 2008, Fox Sports The Best Damn Sports Show aired the IFBA Welterweight World Title Fight at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut, between Jill Emery (146¼ lbs) of Nerw York and the then #1 ranked Angelica (146¼ lbs). Emery won a convincing 99-91,97-93,96-94 ten-round decision to win the vacant title. Martinez fell to 6-5-1 (1 KO) with the loss.
Martinez puts in three-hour sessions in her gym six days a week and runs from two to five miles a day.
Page last updated: Thursday, 08 June 2023
