As Puerto Rico struggles to overcome the devastation of Hurricane Maria, junior bantamweight Jose "Chiquiro" Martinez is battling in the boxing ring to provide a better life for his family. The son of a farmer, he grew up poor in Las Marias, a small town in the hills of the east-central part of the island.
"I come from a very humble and hard situation," said the 25-year-old Martinez, "and I decided to become a boxer to give my family a better future."
The dire situation in his homeland has given Martinez (19-0-1, 12 KOs) additional incentive.
"All Puerto Ricans are in a very difficult situation now -- it's really, really hard," Martinez said. "It's something that we've never had before. But Puerto Ricans are warriors. We fight for our goals, and I know we will rise again."
Martinez, who grew up watching national hero Felix "Tito" Trinidad box on TV, takes the next step toward his objective when he faces southpaw Jesus "El Sargento" Martinez on Thursday in a scheduled 10-rounder at Poliforum Benito Juarez in Cancun, Mexico (ESPN Deportes, 9 p.m. ET, ESPN2; 11:30 p.m., tape delay).
It will be "Chiquiro" fifth fight outside of Puerto Rico. In November 2015, he won a unanimous 10-round decision over Oscar Mojica in Las Vegas. A trio of 2013 bouts in Santo Domingo netted knockout victories of Ramon Emilio Cedano, Eduardo Melendez and Domingo Berroa.
"I'm going to perform on ESPN, a network where everyone in the world will see me," Jose said. "I'm highly motivated to give a great performance and have a great win for Puerto Rico, my hometown Las Marias, and my people. I'm very excited to have this opportunity."
Jesus Martinez is hoping to rebound after being stopped by Luis Nery in a WBC title eliminator last March.
"This fight is at my natural weight -- 115 pounds," he said. "My two loses were both at 118 pounds."
Prior to the Nery setback, the 35-year-old Martinez (23-2, 11 KOs) tallied solid wins over Jonathan Burgos, Angel Berrio and Miguel Martinez.
In the co-feature, undefeated Californian Alexis Rocha (9-0, 6 KOs) meets Colombian Pascual Salgado (12-7, 8 KOs) in a scheduled eight-round welterweight match.
The 20-year-old Rocha is the younger brother of super bantamweight Ronny Rios. Alexis is right-handed but fights out of a left-handed stance. When he was still an amateur, he sparred with Canelo Alvarez, which turned out to be a significant learning experience.
"I just noticed [Canelo] was patient, picking his shots very well," Rocha said. "The amateurs are more pitty-pat, just throwing your punches, but this guy was very relaxed, he was very patient with his shots, and very explosive. That's what I picked up for my transition to my professional career."
In his most recent bout, on Aug. 26, Rocha knocked out Esau Herrera with a right hook in the first round. His best performance in a relatively brief career came against previously undefeated Cesar Valenzuela on June 2, 2017, in Los Angeles. Rocha won a unanimous decision by tallies of 80-72 on all three scorecards.
"I'm aggressive, but I'm also very patient at the same time," Rocha said. "I'm very cool, calm and collected with my style. But once I start unloading, you can see the pressure."
The 33-year-old Salgado seems overmatched. He has lost four of his six most recent fights by knockout and appears destine to become Rocha's 10th consecutive victim.
In the TV opener, undefeated Vergil Ortiz Jr. (9-0, 7 KOs) will tackle Evandro "Japa" Cavalheiro (9-3, 5 KOs) in a scheduled eight-round junior welterweight bout.
The 19-year-old Ortiz was born in Dallas but resides in Grand Prairie, Texas. He is trained and managed by Joel Diaz.
"I like to fight inside, but I can also fight outside. I can counter if I want to. I can bang. I'm not afraid to go to war," Ortiz said. 'But for the most part, I adjust to how my opponent fights. I don't always fight one way, because if you fight one way, someone's going to beat you."
Brazilian Cavalheiro, who took the fight on short notice, has had several lengthy layoffs during a 10-year pro career. In his most recent bout, the 34-year-old Cavalheiro suffered a third-round TKO at the hands of Hector Colin on Oct. 27 in Mexico City.