By Miguel Rivera

The now former junior lightweight champion Roman 'Rocky' Martinez will take some time off in evaluating what will ultimately be his future in boxing.

Martinez was taken to a Manhattan hospital for checkups after suffering a devastating knockout at the hands of the Ukrainian two-time Olympic gold medal winner Vasyl Lomachenko last night at the Theater at Madison Square Garden on the eve of the celebration of the 'Puerto Rican Day Parade.'

Lomachenko, who improved to 6-1, 4KO's, became the first fighter in the history of professional boxing to win two titles in different divisions with just seven fights on his record.

Martinez, who had reigned as world champion three times at 130 pounds, was coming off back to back fights against Orlando 'Siri' Salido. He won the title by beating him in Puerto Rico and then went to a draw with him last September on the Mayweather-Berto Showtime PPV undercard at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

"Roman is going to take a rest," said coach Raul "Papo Torres after the loss to El Vocero. "He will take a good rest and then continue to talk about whether or not he will return at 130 pounds or 135. We do not know yet [on what he will do]. But he will have to take a break. He could not figure out Lomachenko."

Martinez was due to have a trilogy fight with Salido, but it never happened after the WBO got involved and ordered the Puerto Rican fighter to go up against Mexico's Miguel Berchelt. That fight never happened after a deal was worked out for Martinez to face Lomachenko, who was the WBO world champion at featherweight and moved up.