Alberto Puello W12 Sandor Martin...The Dominican Republic's Alberto “La Avispa” Puello, 139.2 lbs., battled fellow southpaw Sandor Martin, 139.2 lbs., of Barcelona, Spain, over twelve fast-paced, evenly-matched rounds on the Gervonta Davis-Lamont Roach undercard held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. Puello began bouncing on his toes as Martin pressed forward. As both fighters’ best asset is their hand speed, they each attempted to land quick counters when the other over-extended on a missed throw. They often exchanged their best straight left shots as well. Martin appeared to be the busier, more accurate fighter early on, but Puello worked his way inside to target the midsection with his combinations. A left hook to the body visibly hurt Martin in round eleven, but the Spaniard had the better final stanza. The scorecards read 115-113 each way and 116-112 for Puello, which allowed him to retain the WBC junior welterweight title. Puello [who has had issues with banned performance-enhancing substances] is now 24-0 with 10 KOs) after this split decision win. Trained by Ismael Salas, Puello won the WBC interim title on June 15, 2024, with an upset split-decision victory against Gary Antuanne Russell. The WBC elevated Puello to full champion nine days later after Devin Haney vacated the title. Suffering another split decision loss on US soil, Martin is now 42-4 with 15 KOs. [Many felt Martin deserved this win, and many feel he deserved the win against Teofimo Lopez in 2022, a bout in which he also lost a controversial decision. With Lopez going on to win the world championship against Josh Taylor in 2023, these two controversial losses give Martin a very strong claim to be the uncrowned world champion].