Jade Bornea fell short of claiming the IBF super-flyweight crown after defending champion Fernando Martinez forced an 11th round stoppage on Sunday, June 25 (Manila time) at the Armory in Minneapolis.

Referee Charlie Fitch decided to halt the fight 29 seconds into the 11th round, seeing Bornea had already taken enough punishment after sustaining a busted earlobe and fighting through the last two rounds of the contest with blood flowing through his right ear.

Martinez, after overcoming an aggressive start from his Filipino challenger, slowly but surely dictated the tempo of the fight with his hard hits to the body and the head. 

The unbeaten Argentine, who improved to a 16-0 record highlighted by nine knockouts, simply broke down Bornea with sharp combinations starting the fifth round before hammering him down with a couple more heavy blows until the ninth round when blood started pouring from Bornea’s ear.

Fitch actually had to ask the Filipino boxer if he wanted to continue late in that round to which Bornea replied affirmatively. Smelling blood, Martinez then picked up the pace and showered his challenger with more vicious blows before the referee got in the middle of the two and stopped the fight.

Bornea (18-1,12 KOs) became the second Filipino to fall at the hands of Martinez who won the super-flyweight title against former champion Jerwin Ancajas via unanimous decision in February last year.

The two would then touch gloves once more eight months later with Martinez asserting his mastery over Ancajas with another unanimous decision victory.