Julio Cesar Martinez is ready to face his idol.

The reigning WBC flyweight champion will move up two weight classes to challenge former four-weight world champion and living legend Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez in a DAZN-streamed main event on March 5 at Pechanga Arena in San Diego.

The scheduled 12-round bout came to fruition after WBA/The Ring Magazine 115-pound world champion Juan Francisco Estrada pulled out of a trilogy fight with Gonzalez after testing positive for COVID-19.

Martinez’s decision to move up in weight coincides with fellow 115-pounder Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez, who moved up from flyweight to defeat former champion Carlos Cuadras by unanimous decision to win the vacant WBC junior bantamweight title on February 5. With the win, the 22-year-old Rodriguez (15-0, 10 KOs) also became the sport’s current youngest champion and the first fighter born in 2000 to capture boxing’s ultimate prize.

While his fight won’t have any form of championship belt on the line, it serves as a moot point for the 27-year-old Mexican because his legacy carries more leverage than a belt would ever bear.

“It was big news to have this big fight against an idol in Chocolatito Gonzalez,” Martinez stated to The Ring. “And I’m happy because I know that we are made for these kinds of challenges. So we are more than ready.”

On October 26, 1951, late heavyweight world champion Rocky Marciano knocked out his boyhood idol Joe Louis in the eighth round of their fight at Madison Square Garden in New York. On March 5, Martinez (18-1, 14 KOs) will have a chance to duplicate the triumph against Nicaragua’s Gonzalez (50-3, 41 KOs) and become the first Mexican to knock him out. We asked Martinez if he is just as motivated to win competing against his hero compared to other contenders in his weight class where that sort of connection doesn’t exist.

“Yes, [I’m motivated] more than anything. I’m excited and happy to be fighting a great idol and boxer. It’s not easy, you know? I know it’s going to be a tough fight, but we’re also going to make the adequate training for that kind of fight, and I want to make history.

“I want to make history like Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez. Something similar happened with Edgar Sosa, but I had a goal in mind, which was to win, and that’s what happened there as well.”

Sosa, who made 10 defenses of the WBC junior flyweight title during his prime, suffered a second-round knockout to Gonzalez in May 2015 and was outpointed by Martinez over eight rounds in June 2017.

Martinez is coming off a disappointing three-round no contest against McWilliams Arroyo last November in a fight that saw both men hit the deck. However, the fight ended prematurely due to an accidental headbutt that opened up a nasty cut above Arroyo’s right eye.

“I believe Arroyo could have continued. And he was talking a lot, talking about how I was scared [before the fight], and that I’d fight against anyone but him, but honestly, I think he didn’t want to fight,” he stated.” I would have continued the fight. I would have made sure that my hand was raised, but even after, he didn’t talk about a rematch. He still doesn’t want to talk about a rematch. He avoids that topic as well.

“I feel like he didn’t hurt me in the fight at all. I got knocked down in the first round, but I didn’t feel hurt. I would give him a rematch [if he wants it], but I also want to continue my career. I want to fight Chocolatito Gonzalez, [Juan Francisco] El Gallo Estrada, and Sunny Edwards. I want to unify. And the truth is, he doesn’t have those belts, so it’s not like he has anything that would want me to look for a rematch.”