SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – Guatemalan contender Lester Martinez scored the win of his career to date, stopping previously undefeated Joeshon James in four rounds here at the Orange Show Events Center on Saturday.

It was a fight that had been in the pipeline for months and had fallen out of bed multiple times due to Martinez being injured and then ill, but he was finally able to do to James what he had promised.

For his part, James, 9-1-2 (5 KOs), fighting out of Sacramento, started well and boxed smoothly in the first round.  

He worked behind a tidy, long jab, which he invested into the head and body. And although Martinez had a composed expression, he was occasionally guilty of looking for huge shots, including a left hook and an overhand right that both missed by a distance.

The left side of Martinez’s body was reddening up in the second. Jones was dialed in, but he was also caught sometimes when he stayed in close too long, notably by a hook and an uppercut. 

The 29-year-old Martinez, trained by Brian “BoMac” McIntyre, started the third with more menace in his mind and on his punches. He looked for rights over the top of James’ jab and started to find his range and timing.

Near the end of the round, Martinez fully caught up with James and leveled him with a combination, a right hand-left hook, that slammed James flat on his back and left him staring up at the ring lights in a neutral corner.

It seemed like it might be all over. James rose in the nick of time, but he did so unsteadily. The clackers sounded within seconds, and he managed to see out the round. 

As he unsteadily walked back to his corner, James jogged on the spot, trying to get his legs to obey him.

But Martinez is a busy fighter and a finisher. He started the fourth as he closed out the third, and when he crashed another right off James’ head, it had a devastating effect. The same shot on repeat put James down hard again once more, this time with his head nestling on the bottom rope. Again, James made it back to his feet, but this time he groggily lurched across the ring and the referee waved it off after 1.05. It was the right call, though James protested the stoppage. Martinez wheeled away and celebrated, saluting his fans. He had put a feud to bed and made his point.

Tris Dixon covered his first amateur boxing fight in 1996. The former editor of Boxing News, he has written for a number of international publications and newspapers, including GQ and Men’s Health, and is a board member for the Ringside Charitable Trust and the Ring of Brotherhood. He has been a broadcaster for TNT Sports and hosts the popular “Boxing Life Stories” podcast. Dixon is a British Boxing Hall of Famer, an International Boxing Hall of Fame elector, is on The Ring ratings panel and is the author of five boxing books, including “Damage: The Untold Story of Brain Trauma in Boxing” (shortlisted for the William Hill Sportsbook of the Year), “Warrior: A Champion’s Search for His Identity” (shortlisted for the Sunday Times International Sportsbook of the Year) and “The Road to Nowhere: A Journey Through Boxing’s Wastelands.” You can reach him @trisdixon on X and Instagram.