Julio Cesar Martinez vacates flyweight title, will move up in weight

Julio Cesar Martinez has vacated his WBC flyweight title.

Julio Cesar Martinez has officially vacated his WBC flyweight title, stating his desire to move up in weight and “face new challenges.”

The move was announced on the WBC’s web site with a statement from the fighter.

This also means that, with Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez vacating the IBF and WBO titles to move back up in weight, the only current titlist at 112 lbs is WBA titleholder Seigo Yuri Akui, which technically makes him the undisputed champion for the moment.

The 29-year-old Martinez (21-3, 15 KO) last fought on Mar. 30 in Las Vegas, winning a majority decision over Angelino Cordova to retain the title on a Premier Boxing Champions card. It was his first fight with PBC after a run with Matchroom Boxing.

He has fought as a super flyweight before, and was pretty well dominated by Chocolatito Gonzalez in 2022, and also didn’t actually make weight for that fight. Weight, injury, and other issues — both his own and from opponents — have scrapped a lot more Martinez fights than have actually happened in the last couple of years.

Martinez burst onto the scene in 2019 when he went to London and seemed to knock out Charlie Edwards to win the WBC belt, only to have the decision immediately changed to a no-contest because he landed a shot on the downed Edwards.

He would win the then-vacant WBC belt against Cristofer Rosales less than four months later, and made seven defenses in total (six wins and a no-contest against McWilliams Arroyo in 2021).

The WBC have yet to officially announce a vacant title matchup, but the current top two contenders in their rankings are Angel Ayala (17-0, 7 KO) and veteran Francisco Rodriguez Jr (38-6-1, 26 KO), the latter of whom has had exactly zero fights at the actual flyweight limit in the last eight years. The IBF have already ordered Ayala to face Dave Apolinario for their vacant title, so he’ll have a choice to make.