Steven Luevano prepares for title defense, his cousin headed back to prison
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La Puente’s world featherweight champion Steven Luevano is concluding training for his first pro fight in New York, a Jan. 23 showdown against unbeaten rising star Juan Manuel Lopez at Madison Square Garden that will leave the winner poised for a breakout 2010.
Luevano, however, has been forced to deal with distressing family news, following last week’s conviction of his boxer-cousin Marshall Martinez in San Bernardino County of two counts of attempted murder, two counts of assault with a firearm and robbery.
‘My family has been telling me not to keep thinking about it because I’m so close to the [Lopez] fight, but I’m hearing they could put him away for 63 years,’ Luevano said. ‘He’s only 28 now, so that’s basically the rest of his life.’
San Bernardino County Deputy Dist. Atty. Treza Edwards told The Times that Martinez was convicted of shooting two men in Fontana last year over a dispute in which Edwards said, ‘One victim had a large amount of money that Mr. Martinez wanted to get his hands on.’
In 2008, The Times reported on the relationship between the cousins. Martinez was an amateur star who once defeated Puerto Rico’s Miguel Cotto and landed a spot on the 2000 U.S. Olympic boxing team before getting in trouble and being removed from the team. He later became entangled in a drug deal that sent him to federal prison. Martinez fought twice after being released but then failed to show for a card and never worked again for promoter Gary Shaw.
Luevano has long kept his nose clean, devoting himself to his craft and raising a young family with three children.
‘It’s crazy, it’s sad,’ Luevano said of Martinez’s trouble.
Luevano, meanwhile, is in Oxnard working on a plan to defeat Lopez (27-0, 24 KOs), an emerging star for the fighters’ Top Rank promotional company. A skilled inside fighter and skilled tactician, Luevano has successfully defended his WBO belt four times.
‘Some people think he looks unbeatable, but I think this’ll go all 12 rounds,’ said Luevano (37-1-1, 15 KOs). ‘I can take his punches. At 122 pounds, he was strong, but I think this move up to 126 will be a different story with me being the naturally bigger person.
‘I’m used to other fighters overlooking me. Throughout my career, I look like an easy win, but it never comes out like that. I know what I have to do in that ring.’
--Lance Pugmire
