LOS ANGELES – Luka Plantic’s trainer, Joel Diaz, believes there is only one way his man walks away with the WBC interim super-middleweight title this Saturday.
The Croatian faces Lester Martinez at Los Angeles’ Galen Center, with the fight airing live on the ProBox TV YouTube channel.
Guatemala’s Martinez is the star of the show, fighting on the weekend of his country’s national holiday. The contest is set up as an opportunity for Martinez to shine in front of his countrymen, while Plantic enters as the challenger looking to spoil the occasion.
Diaz knows his fighter cannot afford to leave the outcome in the hands of the judges.
“We know it’s a Guatemala night. I mean, everything’s against us. So we’re swimming against the currents,” Diaz told BoxingScene. “So there’s no going back in this fight. We’re looking for the knockout. We know that if he doesn’t knock him out, we won’t win.
“So from the beginning of the fight, I have Luka applying pressure and attacking and basically staying busy. Smart pressure, staying busy, looking for the right time to land that shot that could end the fight, because that’s the only way that Luka will win the fight, by knockout.
“If we go the distance, Lester’s technical, smart. He moves really well. He’s a good technical fighter. So going the distance, we won’t walk away with a decision.”
Plantic, a 2020 Olympian, has spent much of his professional career working his way toward an opportunity like this. Diaz has only recently started training the Croatian but admitted he has been impressed by what Plantic has shown him ahead of Saturday.
“I know that Luka is a very, very tough fighter,” he explained. “When he was sent to me by his promoter, who I worked with in the past, he told me, ‘I’m going to send you a kid that is very tough. He’s fighting for the interim world title, believe me, he will go in there and win. He has a heart, and he’s very aggressive.
“Since day one he showed me his work ethic. He works really hard. He doesn’t take no for an answer, and he just pushes forward. He’s a warrior, man. He’s a fighter that will give any boxing fan what you want to see in the ring, a great action fight.”
