FILIPINO boxer Carl Jammes Martin painted an upset split decision win against Mexican David Picasso to claim the World Boxing Council (WBC) silver featherweight belt at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia early Sunday in Manila.
Shrugging off a flash knockdown in the eighth round which he said was just a trip after stepping on Picasso's foot, Martin did just enough to sway two judges to his favor at 95-94 while the other scored it 96-93 in favor of Picasso.
Martin said his corner preached patience after that knockdown in the 10-round bout against the champion he just dethroned.
"Just the patience. I know Cass is a great fighter. They said, 'just be patient, wait for him, don't be aggressive', And that's it."
Martin, 27, made his case in the last two rounds where he connected punches on the head and body of Picasso, 26, enough to pile up points in the close encounter.
Scoring the biggest win of his career yet, Martin stayed undefeated at 29-0 and put himself in the picture of a world title match.
Picasso, who once challenged and lost to Japanese Naoya Inoue for the undisputed bantamweight crown, fell to 33-2.
A pride fighter from Lagawe, Ifugao, Martin credited his 3-month training in the United States for his victory.
"Yeah, I learned a lot in the US. I trained so much," said Martin
"I found someone sparring (sparring sessions) with great fighters in the US. But this is it. I won. I won a WBC featherweight silver title. So much to appreciate this one."
Martin said he's willing to do a rematch against Picasso.
"He said, 'I want a rematch, brother, let's do it again', and then I said, let's go, bro. I'm not scared of anybody.’"
