Is He for Real, or Is Manager Man Who Would Be King?

It’s hard to know if Escondido boxing manager Joe Crowder is doing his best Don King imitation or if he truly believes his own hype.

Whatever his purpose, Crowder is giving junior lightweight Jorge Martinez quite a buildup before his pro debut tonight in an undercard fight at the Irvine Marriott.

“I think Jorge is going to be a better fighter than Julio Cesar Chavez,” Crowder said. “He might not have the power that Chavez possessed, but he’s a better defensive fighter. I’ll be very surprised if Jorge isn’t a world champion a few years down the road.”

Martinez, 21, isn’t as brash as his trainer/manager, but he doesn’t mind the Chavez comparison.

“People have told me we have similar styles,” said Martinez, who graduated from Escondido San Pasqual High three years ago. “He’s still my role model in boxing. I’d love to be as good as he is someday.”

Tonight, Martinez simply wants to be better than Ulises Pena (3-1) of North Hills. Martinez turned pro in November, but he hasn’t been able to get a fight until now.

“This is a little tougher opponent than we wanted for a debut, but we’re just happy to get in the ring against anybody,” Crowder said.

Martinez will be happy to get the memory of his last fight out of his mind. In June, he lost a fight to Francisco Bojado that cost him a trip to the Olympics. It was a fight that Martinez contends should have never taken place.

Martinez, a bronze medalist in the 1999 Pan American Games, believed he earned the right to represent his native Mexico in the Americas Olympic trials in Tampa last February. But two months before the Olympics, Martinez was ordered to fight Bojado in Mexico City. Bojado, who lost in the second round of the Olympics to Russian Kamil Dzamalutdinov, won a close three-round decision.

“As boxers, we look to get a big name in the Olympics and then turn pro,” Martinez said. “That was my goal, but it was taken away because of politics.

“I’m still hurt and I’ll always remember it. But there’s nothing I can do about it now.”

If Martinez turns into half the fighter Crowder projects him to become, he will eventually forget about Bojado and Mexico City.

“Jorge can box in all four directions,” Crowder said. “Most fighters can only fight coming forward or going back. Jorge can do it all.”

Jerry Bilderrain, the Marriott’s matchmaker, is reserving judgment.

“A lot of these guys come in as great amateur fighters,” he said. “But the pro game is a lot different.”

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The 10-round main event between Yoni Vargas (18-2, 10 knockouts) of Westminster and Isreal Correa (8-3, one knockout) of Oxnard will decide the California lightweight title. Vargas also has won state featherweight and super featherweight titles. He captured the state lightweight championship 13 months ago with a knockout of Juan Aranday.

The undercard will also include heavyweight Javier Mora (3-0-1) of Westminster against Billy Zumbrun (3-1-1) of Ogden, Utah, and middleweight Enrique Ornelas (7-0) of La Habra against Akinori Okada (3-1) of Tokyo. The undercard begins at 7:30. Tickets are $25 and $35.