Athlete of the Week: Tony "The Tank" Martinez

BROWNSVILLE, Texas (ValleyCentral) — We all want to find what we love. Tony Martinez, known as “The Tank", discovered his passion while helping out a friend.

“I started as a cut man and began training, you know, it was going to be healthy for me. Moving and everything, the whole boxing, the training,” said Martinez, “The Tank”, Professional Boxer.

Martinez began two years ago and is now 34 years old. Some might say he is late to the game, but Martinez has a different way of looking at it.

“I've told a lot of people that I'm a veteran, rookie,” said Martinez. “I'm a lot older than some of the guys boxing, but I don't see it that bad.”

"The Tank" used to play arena football, but now punishes a different type of opponent. He is 6-1 with four knockouts in his professional career.

“Us big guys, we possess that power where, no matter if, if you're losing the whole fight, if you get caught with a good hit, you're going to feel it, you know,” said Martinez.

“The Tank’s” power has his trainer, Alfredo Medina, thinking of the possibilities.

“The time is going to come for him to be a champion one of these days,” said Alfredo Medina, Trainer. “So we're trying to work on maybe next year. We don't know yet, but we're going to be trying to get those goals for him.”

Martinez’s next fight is in August.