Lester Martinez and Joeshon James will give it a third shot at meeting for the first time.
The pair of unbeaten super middleweights are due to headline a March 22 ProBox TV show from Orange Pavilion at the NOS Events Center in San Bernardino, California. Their twice-rescheduled contest was announced on Saturday, the third fight date assigned to this bout.
Guatemala’s Martinez (18-0, 15 KOs) withdrew from their Feb. 8 co-feature in San Antonio, Texas after he and his entire team were hit with the flu bug. That delay came just months after their canceled Sept. 11 clash, which was scratched when Martinez fell ill after the pre-fight ws weigh-in.
The pair of delays further left James (9-0-2, 5 KOs) out of the ring since an eight-round win over Vaughn Alexander (18-8-1 at the time) on a Feb. 16 ProBox bout was his lone entry of a 2024 campaign otherwise spent awaiting his fight with Martinez to materialize.
The 26-year-old Sacramento, California native turned heads with a first-round knockout of unbeaten David Stevens, a 13-0 prospect at the time of their Oct. 2023 clash. Stevens is promoted by Golden Boy, who presented the DAZN event from the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California.
Martinez was the The Ring No. 10 super middleweight contender until he was bumped out last fall. The Brian ‘BoMac’ McIntryre-trained contender generated industry-wide attention after his June 28 decision win over veteran contender Carlos Gongora (22-3, 17 KOs) in Washington D.C.
The distance fight snapped a five-fight knockout streak but remains Martinez’ most significant victory to date.
Also assigned to the show is the vacant WBA junior bantamweight clash between Jasmine Artiga (12-0-1, 6 KOs) and Regina Chavez (8-4-3, 1 KOs).
Jake Donovan is part of the U.S. team for The Ring. Follow Jake on X and Instagram.