Lester Martinez and Luka Plantic collide at the Galen Center in Los Angeles on Saturday night atop the biggest and best ProBox TV card to date.
Martinez, the WBC interim super-middleweight champion, takes on the unbeaten Plantic over 12 rounds and, leading the bustling undercard, hard-hitting light-heavyweight contenders Najee Lopez and Juan Carrillo are set for battle. The winner marches towards the mountain top at 175lbs.
The show also marks the start of a new and exciting era for ProBox.
After four years of providing its fights for free, the Championship Series will now cost $5 per month.
The earlier Future Stars portion of Saturday’s card remains free.
What’s at stake?
There is considerably more than Martinez’s unbeaten record and WBC interim title on the line.
The victor will be firmly positioned for a shot at the full WBC super-middleweight championship, currently held by Christian Mbilli, who faces Canelo Alvarez on October 31.
For Martinez there is unfinished business with Mbilli after their thrilling draw last year, but the bigger prize needs no further explanation. Victory over Plantic could leave Martinez within touching distance of a blockbuster with Canelo.
The unbeaten Plantic, who beat Mbilli in the amateur ranks, is also here for all the above.
How to watch Martinez-Plantic
Saturday’s entire show can be watched through ProBox TV on YouTube. (To sign up, go via proboxtv.com)
Future Stars begins at approximately 5.30pm ET/2.30pm PT, with the Championship Series available afterwards to ProBox TV members.
Membership costs $5 per month, with no long-term commitment, and can be cancelled at any time.
Who else is fighting?
Beyond Martinez-Plantic and Lopez-Carrillo, super-bantamweight contender Ramon Cardenas, who hammered cracks into Naoya Inoue’s suit of armour last year, returns against Leonardo Carrillo over 10 rounds.
At lightweight, Luis Torres faces Jordan White in another pick-‘em affair, while rising Filipino puncher Weljon Mindoro takes on former world-title challenger Carlos Ocampo in a crossroads clash at 160lbs.
It is another card crafted according to ProBox’s simple and long-proven formula: Competitive matchmaking trumps predictable showcases every time.
August 29 is just the start. In less than two weeks, on September 11, two junior middleweight contenders fight for the right to move forward when Abass Baraou clashes with Giovani Santillan. This will be covered by your first $5, too.
Why has the $5-per-month fee been introduced?
ProBox founder Garry Jonas has always maintained that the long-term intention was to charge a monthly fee. The aim, from boosting finances, is to deliver world class boxing at each event; the boxers taking the risks need to be rewarded, after all.
The move to $5-a-month has been four years in the making. The simple but strict criteria – action fighters being matched in competitive fights – resulted in hundreds of thousands of fight fans returning to ProBox for each event.
With the audience built, next came the business decision to invest more in the events to guarantee championship-level boxing, or the equivalent, every month. As Jonas himself said, “We started out by rubbing sticks together… Now’s it’s time to pour some gas on the little fire that we built.”
Evidence of that gas is the August 29 show. Four 50/50 fights at the top of the bill. Each with consequences in their respective weight classes.
ProBox is independent. That means ProBox is not at the mercy of network pressure which, historically, always results in boxing being kicked to the side on major channels. ProBox is a channel dedicating its finances, and efforts, purely to boxing. It will not have its head turned by other sports. It will always be exclusively boxing. “We’re not a promoter, we’re a channel,” said Jonas. “And boxing needs its own channel.”
It also means that ProBox does not receive the kind of money afforded to a network deal.
Which is where the fans come in.
Why should you pay $5?
For four years, ProBox TV was free. Now it’s time to ramp things up a notch.
To ensure the existing uplift in event quality continues. To guarantee well-matched fights between thrill-seeking, world-class fighters. To do something that’s different from all the rest. To build a channel that the sport and its fans are proud of.
Boxing needs it. But the model can work only if ProBox continues to give its audience value. Membership revenue will be reinvested into the fights and thus deliver to you value for money in a sport notorious for doing the opposite.
The theory is uncomplicated: if enough boxing fans are prepared to put $5 a month into something independent, ProBox can put that money back into boxing.
ProBox is committed to retaining its independence so it can deliver boxing the way it believes it should be delivered. No protected prospects in mismatches dressed up as something they’re not. No pointless, time-filling hogwash. Just competitive world-level contests, honest and unbiased analysis, and value for money.
Membership is month-to-month, takes only a few clicks to join and can be cancelled just as easily. It all starts on Saturday. Then it’s down to ProBox TV to prove to you that $5-a-month is worth it.
