MANILA, Philippines — A decorated Vietnam War medic has been tapped to join WBA welterweight champion Sen. Manny Pacquiao’s corner as a cutman in his title defense against Adrien Broner at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Jan. 19.
Dave Martinez, a professional cutman who has worked with former world champions Miguel Cotto, Julio Cesar Gonzalez and Ruslan Provodnikov, was picked by trainer Freddie Roach to join Team Pacquiao. MP Promotions head Joe Ramos confirmed the appointment yesterday.
Roach’s former chief assistant Marvin Somodio, now on holiday with his family in Iloilo from their home base in Los Angeles, described Martinez as “magaling” and “marunong.” “I’ve worked with Dave in many fights, particularly those with Cotto,” he said. “What you like about Dave is he doesn’t interfere with what others in the team are supposed to do. He just does his job and does it well.” Roach, Somodio, Martinez and strength/conditioning coach Gavin MacMillan were in Cotto’s team for his last fight against Sadam Ali at Madison Square Garden in New York City in 2017.
Martinez follows in the footsteps of several cutmen who’ve worked in Pacquiao’s corner, including Ruben Gomez, Lenny de Jesus, Joe Chavez, Miguel Diaz and Dr. Ed de la Vega. It was De la Vega who was Pacquiao’s cutman in the fight against Lucas Matthysse in Kuala Lumpur last July. De la Vega will work as cutman with the Filipino fighters, including interim WBA featherweight champion Jhack Tepora, in the Pacquiao-Broner undercard.
A retired social worker with the Orange County Health Department, Martinez was an amateur boxer with the US Army for six months then was sent to serve in the Vietnam War as a 20-year-old medic. He risked his life on numerous occasions treating wounded men on the battlefield, earning the Soldier’s Medal and Silver Cross. After the military service, Martinez returned to his California hometown and started training kids in boxing to get them off the streets in 1981. He later founded the La Habra Boxing Club, transforming an over 100-year-old abandoned church into a gym. The non-profit club has now been operating for more than 30 years. It provides free training, primarily for at-risk youth, and has some 80 regulars with ages ranging from 8 to 70. Among those who’ve trained at the facility were Sugar Shane Mosley and Roger Mayweather and late actors Burt Reynolds and Ricardo Montalban.
Martinez, inducted into the California Boxing Hall of Fame in 2006, was quoted by writer Anthony Torres as saying he does what he does because he learned “that sharing what you have is more important than what you have.” Former female boxer Nadja Ropac described Martinez as “one of the good guys in the sport … boxing can be a barrel of snakes … trainers usually look at fighters and see only dollar signs, for Martinez, it’s about the community.”
Martinez, quoted by writer Chris Haire, said “to be able to train and help underprivileged or blue-collar kids and give back to La Habra, it’s gratifying.” He has lived in La Habra, a city in northwest Orange County, nearly all his life and grew up in the camps. Martinez said boxing is his vehicle to reach out to kids. “Boxing teaches you about yourself, about your skills and talents,” he said. “It gives you confidence you can take into life. The kids in this neighborhood need that. They need something to keep them off the streets and away from drugs and alcohol.”
source: philstar.com
