Lester Martinez and Luka Plantic collide at the Galen Center in Los Angeles on Saturday night atop the biggest ProBox TV card to date. Martinez, the WBC interim super middleweight champ, takes on the unbeaten Plantic over twelve rounds just after light heavyweights Najee Lopez and Juan Carrillo do battle. The show also marks the start of a new 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.
There is considerably more than Martinez’s unbeaten record and WBC interim title on the line. The victor will be positioned for a shot at the full WBC championship, currently held by Christian Mbilli, who faces Canelo Alvarez on October 31st. 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.
Saturday’s entire show can be watched through ProBox TV on YouTube. (To sign up, go via proboxtv.com) Future Stars begins at approximately 5:30 pm ET/2:30 pm 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
Beyond Martinez-Plantic and Lopez-Carrillo, super bantamweight contender Ramon Cardenas, who hammered cracks into Naoya Inoue’s suit of armor last year, returns against Leonardo Carrillo over ten rounds... At lightweight, Luis Torres faces Jordan White in another pick-‘em affair, while rising Filipino puncher Weljon Mindoro takes on former title challenger Carlos Ocampo at 160 pounds.
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.
