Lester Martinez

Lester Martínez is an unbeaten Guatemalan professional boxer and the WBC interim super-middleweight world champion. Born on 17 October 1995 in Melchor de Mencos, Petén, Guatemala, Martínez built an accomplished amateur career before turning professional. He won middleweight gold at the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games and subsequently turned professional in 2019. Martínez made an unusually ambitious professional debut against former two-division world champion Ricardo Mayorga. Despite Mayorga's vast advantage in professional experience, Martínez stopped the veteran in the second round and immediately announced himself as one of Guatemala's most interesting boxing prospects. A succession of victories followed as Martínez developed his professional career in Guatemala, Mexico and the United States. His combination of compact punching, pressure and power helped him build an unbeaten record while climbing the super-middleweight rankings. Victories over opponents including Isaiah Steen, Lucas de Abreu, Rubén Angulo and Carlos Góngora moved Martínez toward world level. In March 2025, he stopped previously unbeaten Joeshon James in four rounds. Martínez's breakthrough at the elite level came against Christian Mbilli at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on 13 September 2025. The two unbeaten super-middleweights produced a fiercely contested ten-round fight that ended in a split draw. The judges scored it 96–94 for Mbilli, 97–93 for Martínez, and 95–95. The result preserved both fighters' unbeaten records. On 21 March 2026, Martínez defeated Immanuwel Aleem by unanimous decision in San Bernardino, California, to capture the vacant WBC interim super-middleweight championship. The victory made Martínez the first Guatemalan boxer to capture a WBC world championship. Martínez made his first defence against unbeaten Croatian Luka Plantić at the USC Galen Centre in Los Angeles on 29 August 2026. He gradually broke down Plantić before forcing the stoppage in the tenth round, retaining his interim championship and improving his professional record to 21–0–1 with 17 stoppage victories. Lester Martínez remains one of Guatemala's most accomplished professional boxers and a leading figure in the current super-middleweight division. His Boxing Ring News profile tracks his complete professional record, championship fights and career results.