Lester Martinez Prepares for Luka Plantic with Terence Crawford

Iron sharpens iron. It’s a phrase that gets thrown around gyms so often it can lose its edge. In Lester Martinez’s camp, it still cuts.

The WBC interim super middleweight champion is preparing for the biggest test of his reign on August 29, when he defends his belt against heavy-handed Luka Plantic. To get ready, Martinez hasn’t just upgraded his sparring. He’s brought in one of the defining fighters of this era.

Crawford walks in, the room changes

Martinez’s camp has become a live masterclass. Crawford, the former undisputed champion at welterweight, has slipped into the role of mentor and chief problem-solver, a presence that instantly raises the temperature in the gym.

"When Terence steps back into the gym, the whole energy shifts. He doesn’t just watch; he breaks down moments, tells you where your feet should be, and shows you how to dictate tempo. Having a fighter of his caliber in your ear gives you total confidence."

That’s the difference. This isn’t a retired name leaning on old stories. Crawford still lives the details. He sees the inches, the angles, the small technical choices that decide exchanges against top-level opposition. For a champion about to face a dangerous puncher, those inches matter.

Martinez knows what’s coming from Plantic: pressure, power, and a belief that one clean shot can change everything. Crawford’s job is to make sure that shot never lands the way Plantic wants it to.

Fear? Martinez fires back

Plantic hasn’t stayed quiet while Martinez fine-tunes his craft with an all-time great. He’s tried to spin the move as a sign of nerves, accusing Martinez of calling in Crawford out of fear.

Martinez doesn’t flinch.

"He can say I brought Terence because I’m scared, but on fight night, it’s just the two of us. He’ll realize very quickly that training with the best in the world wasn’t out of fear—it was out of preparation to destroy him."

There’s little in Martinez’s record to suggest he scares easily. He went toe-to-toe with Christian Mbilli and battled him to a draw, a result that has aged well as Mbilli now heads toward a Halloween showdown with Canelo Alvarez. Martinez has already lived in deep water. He’s not bluffing when he talks about quality of opposition.

The Plantic camp can talk. Martinez is busy sharpening.

BoMac’s hard lessons

If Crawford is the star name in the gym, Brian "BoMac" McIntyre is the one holding the blueprint. The trainer who helped guide Crawford to undisputed status has his own checklist for Martinez.

The Guatemalan champion is a natural knockout artist, a fighter who understands how to sit down on his shots and keep his entire kinetic chain connected when he lets his hands go. His power starts in his legs and rips through his opponent. But that strength comes with a challenge: knowing when not to use it.

"BoMac doesn't let you get comfortable. Every round in sparring has a purpose; every drill has a counter. We built a strategy specifically to neutralize Plantic's aggression and turn his momentum against him."

That’s the evolution they’re chasing. Less reckless destruction, more controlled violence. The camp is trying to fuse Martinez’s instinct to finish with the patience and calculation of a seasoned technician.

Crawford’s presence only intensifies that process. He doesn’t allow lazy habits. Under his eye, mistakes get punished in real time. You either learn or you get exposed.

Teaching under fire

This is teaching under stress, the kind of education you can’t fake. Crawford has walked into hostile arenas, solved elite puzzles mid-fight, and left with belts and reputations in his bag. Now he’s compressing that experience into bite-sized lessons for a champion on the rise.

Martinez is being asked to think like a surgeon while still punching like a wrecking ball. To see Plantic’s aggression not as a threat, but as an opening. To step around, not straight back. To answer pressure with precision, not panic.

On August 29, there will be no Crawford in the opposite corner, no BoMac shouting corrections between rounds. Just Martinez, Plantic, and the truth of the work they’ve both done.

If iron really does sharpen iron, we’re about to find out exactly how sharp Lester Martinez has become.