Joeshon James has had to wait to face Lester Martinez in a super middleweight bout which will take place on Saturday at the Orange Show Events Center, in San Bernardino, California. The fight reminds him of a previous bout against another undefeated fighter from his past, when he knocked out Richard Brewart Jnr. 

James, 9-0-2, has been out of the ring for 13 months and had originally been set to face Martinez in September. The fight was rescheduled for February and now it is finally occurring on Saturday. But the 26-year-old, who trains in Sacramento, California, is not one to complain.

“You can either break down and cry and bitch about stuff or keep going harder, which is what we’ve been doing,” James told BoxingScene. “I’ve kept adding new shit to the game plan. It’s all just bad for Lester because we just keep adding to the game plan.”

Andres Martinez, James’ trainer, offers similar sentiments, but also shared some insight of the long journey to this weekend. 

“It’s been a little frustrating because it’s a lot of work on the coach’s part,” Martinez said. “It took three times, but I know this time is for sure. Everything happens for a reason. I feel we’re in California with our home crowd.”

The last time James fought near San Bernardino was when he boxed in Ontario, California and he stopped Brewart. Since then, James fought Javier Martinez and Abilkhan Amankul to draws in consecutive bouts, and both were undefeated prospects at the time. He also knocked out David Stevens in one round. Yet his career hit a speed bump.  

“We know what happened the first time in California, we had our home crowd while we were in Brewart’s backyard, but we still had our people with the crowd and everything, and had fun that night,” James said. “There was a lot behind the Richard Brewart fight, a lot of sacrifices that most people don’t know about. It’s pretty much the same. It’s almost like deja vu. This is going to be a better performance than the Brewart fight.”

Martinez, 18-0 (15 KOs), is trained by Brian “BoMac” McIntyre and is a fearsome puncher from Guatemala. Martinez, 29, is ranked No. 2 by the WBA and No.10 by the WBC. James will be fighting the sixth undefeated fighter of his career and the fourth prospect who was undefeated. James is no stranger to taking risks in his career.  

“It’s the confidence behind us knowing that we’re the best team in the game,” James said. “We are putting in the work to back up these types of fights.”