Alexandria’s Troy “The Transformer” Isley is on a quest to be the middleweight champion of the world.
Undefeated after 12 fights with five knockouts, Isley will face his former amateur rival Javier Martinez (10-0-1, 3 KOs) for the North American Boxing Association‘s title at The Fontainebleau Las Vegas. The fight will be broadcast live and exclusively on ESPN+.
With a win, the 25-year-old Isley will break into the middleweight top 10 and be a world-ranked contender for the World Boxing Association title.
Isley previously fought Martinez four times when they were amateurs, with both fighters winning two fights apiece.
“I’m not worried about that,” Isley said of his previous losses to Martinez. “He’s fighting a whole new Troy. This is a different Troy Isley than he’s ever faced before. I’m not looking to make it close. This is going to be a different fight, simply.”
Isley has 12 fights under his belt since going pro in Feb. 2021, meaning that he’s been fighting roughly four fights a year since that time.
Isley now spends most of his time training up to 12 hours a day in Houston, Texas, and in Las Vegas. He says that after this fight he will come back home to Alexandria for a while before moving full-time to Vegas.
An Alexandria native, Isley was one of three Alexandria City High School graduates to compete in the Tokyo Olympics, along with sprinter Noah Lyles and high-jumper Tynita Butts-Townsend. He went professional months before the 2021 games, entering into the contest as one of the first-ever pro boxers to compete in the Olympics.
“I felt like I needed that (loss),” Isley said. “I felt like it gave me a better work ethic as a professional, so I’m cool with it. I’m cool with the result.”
He won in his Olympic debut against Vitali Bandarenka of Belarus, but lost his second fight against Russian Gleb Bakshi, knocking him out of the tournament. Isley says that the loss was a character-building moment where he learned not to take things for granted.
“If you talk about the best athletes in the area, my name has to come up,” Isley said. “That’s what the Olympics meant for me, going from Alexandria.”
