5 Key Questions Going into Carl Frampton vs. Kiko Martinez II

Northern Ireland's new favourite son, Carl Frampton, 27, fights for a world title for the first time in his 19th professional fight as he challenges IBF super-bantamweight champion Kiko Martinez in Belfast on Saturday.

Unusually, these two have fought before and quite recently. After some competitive action in February 2013, it was Frampton who walked Martinez onto a big counter right in Round 9 and took the win via stoppage.

Despite that, the Spaniard, 28, would taste world-title action before his conqueror when he challenged Colombian titleholder Jhonatan Romero in August 2013 in New Jersey.

The tall, rangy Romero just couldn't keep the squat, aggressive Martinez off him, and despite improving after a first round in which he took a real beating, the champ absorbed a succession of blows again in Round 6, which ultimately forced the referee to intervene in Martinez's favour and seal his title victory.

That was a significant upset because the unbeaten Romero was being showcased on HBO as a potential star and opponent for Guillermo Rigondeaux.

Furthermore, after the first Frampton fight, Martinez, now 31-4, had been written off as a second-tier fighter who would always fall short against top-tier opposition.

With four stoppage wins since then including three in world-title fights, Martinez has forced people to reappraise him. Despite his previous stoppage defeat to Frampton, the odds on Oddschecker are roughly the same as for the first fight—Frampton is a 1-5 favourite, while Martinez is the 4-1 outsider.

For Frampton this is an enormous occasion, and he will benefit from the expected 16,000 crowd in his hometown at a specially constructed stadium in the suitably named Titanic Quarter.

Here are the five key questions going into this world-title rematch.

Both of these fighters enter on the back of four wins inside the distance—the unbeaten Frampton has 13 stoppage wins in 18 fights, while Martinez has 23 in 31 fights, as well as four defeats.

It's fair to say that both of these guys can bang, and you could even make a case that they are the two biggest punchers at super-bantamweight, with Rigondeaux being the boxer supreme.

The only time either of these men has been stopped was in the first fight between them. The above video shows the decisive moments.

Clearly, if Frampton can land a punch that devastating on Saturday, he will again triumph by knockout. But given it took him nine rounds to do so last time, there is no guarantee he will repeat the trick inside the scheduled 12 rounds.

The punch didn't necessarily look that lethal in itself, although the way it scrambled Martinez's senses beyond the 10 count shows how appearances can be deceiving.

Even so, the telling short right hand didn't have much of a windup, and Frampton's feet were quite square on, which doesn't allow for maximum leverage.

What probably did in Martinez was that he was caught in a bad position with his hands down and didn't realise the punch was coming until it was too late; he failed to brace himself.

It was definitely a lapse in concentration by Martinez to find himself in punching range with no defence, but with his busy, high-tempo style such occurrences are probably inevitable.

At least Martinez now has the experience of making the mistake before, which should help him avoid a repeat.

All the same, Frampton will have opportunities again and has the power to end the fight if he can find another big punch this time out.

It is interesting to note that, whilst Frampton was ranked significantly higher than Martinez after their first fight, by BoxRec's computerised rankings, Martinez is now third in the division ahead of Frampton (who is fourth).

While no human-compiled rankings would be likely to follow suit and ignore their first encounter, that does show you that Martinez has fought significantly better opposition than Frampton since February of last year.

In his last three fights (all of them for the world title) Martinez has looked impressive, closing the distance quickly on his opponents and landing serious punches on the inside until they wilt and fall.

The big question is whether Martinez has genuinely improved, or if he has just happened to face opponents who have made him look good.

In particular, the upset win over Romero looked to be a good stylistic matchup for Martinez, because the inexperienced Romero didn't seem to have either the power or the stamina to keep the shorter Spaniard at bay.

Martinez's two title defences came against the then 34-year-old Jeffrey Mathebula and the 33-year-old Hozumi Hasegawa who, despite good name recognition, were past their best.

It is worth noting that although Martinez has looked like a more fearsome fighter in his last three bouts, he still has the same trainer, Pablo Sarmiento, who is best known for his work with Sergio Martinez.

Therefore, if improvements have been made, it is possibly just through redoubled motivation and determination from Martinez, rather than any major stylistic changes.

Either way, you can expect another fired-up and committed performance from Martinez. Whether or not he has made sufficient technical alterations to cause Frampton more trouble remains to be seen.

How much punishment a boxer can take before being unable to continue is a strange science, and nobody is quite sure how the physiology works.

In general, though, it is fair to say that once a boxer has been knocked out once, he will become more susceptible in the future and easier to hurt.

Ricky Hatton would be a good recent example. For years he was willing to take a punch to land one in tough, scrappy fights where he could outlast the opposition.

But after Floyd Mayweather stopped him in Round 10 of their fight, Hatton would be knocked out cold in Round 2 of his next top-level encounter with Manny Pacquiao. 

More recently, Dereck Chisora has gone from taking lashings of punishment from Vitali Klitschko to being hurt by relative nobodies like Edmund Gerber and Ondrej Pala. What separated the two was his Round 5 stoppage defeat to David Haye.

When it comes to rematches, the expectation might be that a fighter who has been stopped by another will get stopped quicker the second time—Eric Morales lost in Round 10 to Pacquiao in early 2006 before failing to make it past Round 3 in a rematch later the same year.

There has been nothing in Martinez's fights since the Frampton stoppage to suggest that he has lost his ability to take a punch—something which is crucial to his swarming, come-forward style.

However, Martinez has really faced non-punchers in his last four fights who would not be expected to seriously trouble his punch resistance.

If Frampton has already, as they say, "cracked" Martinez's chin, then he could have an early night on Saturday.

In the first fight, Frampton started well, outboxing Martinez and keeping him at range, but he had to work hard to stop Martinez from getting onto the inside where he likes to do his work.

As the fight wore on, Frampton's work rate slowed more than Martinez's, which meant the Spaniard was having more success as the rounds passed.

By the time of the stoppage, Frampton still had a lead on the scorecards, but if he hadn't found the show-closing punch in Round 9, the signs were that he might struggle down the stretch against a more experienced opponent.

Both boxers have good power, but the Northern Irishman is the superior boxer. As a result, Martinez's work rate and stamina are his potential equalisers.

Therefore, Martinez needs to drag the fight into the later rounds where Frampton lacks experience against top opposition.

The champion might also consider modulating his work rate more throughout the fight. Last time out and in most of his bouts, Martinez just fights at the same high pace every second of every round.

While that is an effective way to exert mental pressure on an opponent, it may not be the best strategic plan for this contest.

Even if Martinez has genuinely sharpened his technical skills, it is difficult to envisage him outboxing Frampton for a 12-round decision. In a close fight, the local fighter may get preferential treatment on the scorecards.

Martinez may do better to keep more in the tank for the last four rounds and then pile it on the hometown fighter, looking to score knockdowns to swing the cards his way or to land the decisive KO punch.

Whichever strategy he follows, for Martinez to win (other than an early KO that catches Frampton cold) he is likely to need to draw out the fight and put his opponent's stamina under serious examination.

Most straightforwardly, Carl Frampton should have the psychological edge because he has beaten Martinez before, and by TKO—he will enter this fight full of confidence for a repeat.

On top of that, factor in 16,000 Belfast fans who will provide vocal encouragement for The Jackal—and an intimidating environment for the Spanish champion.

Even so, despite losing last February, Martinez will enter with plenty of self-belief given his recent run of form. He definitely believes he has more to offer this time, and with his strong temperament he is not the type to be easily dissuaded.

Furthermore, in only his last fight, Martinez went to Japan and beat the popular former WBC bantamweight champion Hozumi Hasegawa, so he has experience of going into hostile territory.

Even before that, Martinez had upset the odds to win the IBF title from U.S.-based Colombian champion Jhonatan Romero in New Jersey.

The danger for Frampton is that he has underestimated the threat that Martinez poses in this rematch.

That's what Chris Eubank did in his second encounter with Nigel Benn in 1993, having stopped him in Round 9 nearly three years previously. Benn boxed smarter and more cautiously on that occasion and was perhaps unlucky to see the bout scored a draw.

If Martinez is better prepared to get inside and start roughing him up, or he gets stronger as the fight wears on and Frampton can't find one big punch to turn the fight around, the psychological edge will swing towards the champion.

Little could be worse for Frampton if he finds himself in the trenches with the indefatigable Spaniard and realises that he has underprepared for his revitalised opponent.

Neither man is known for psychological weakness, but when a fight goes long and hard, even the toughest competitors can break. This could be a key factor down the stretch, as it might take something special from Martinez to defy his former conqueror and the febrile Belfast crowd.