How Isaiah Martinez Became A Man Overnight

Nov 4, 2015 by Mark Bader

By now most wrestling fans have seen the FloFilms original series To Hell and Back: Isaiah Martinez and know the story of Isaiah's father falling ill to stage four liver cancer. Unfortunately he passed away on October 29, but the entire wrestling community rallied around Isaiah for which he was very thankful. One guy who has been through much of it with Isaiah is Mark Perry. The two have a close bond and Mark recalls the evening when Isaiah broke the news to him.

In Mark Perry's words:

"You know he called me one night, or texted me, and asked if I’d come up and work out with him. It was late, I can’t remember what time, 8, 9, 10 o’clock at night. And we came up here and we worked out, we just drilled and went over some stuff and then when

we went downstairs, he told me that his dad was sick and he had stage four cancer.

He’s an intelligent kid, he’s given me the percentages of him getting through this and this and that. That was a different moment for me as a coach. Something I had never experienced in my life. I've been pretty fortunate for the most part, most of the ones, the close ones, the ones that really care about me haven’t had to go through things like that. So that was a first for me.

I'm a guy that talks quite a bit. I was speechless, I was speechless. I didn’t really know what to say more than, just know that Coach Heffernan, myself, and Hunter -- I mean we’re here for you guys. You have family here, you have people to lean on through tough times.

He told me that and to me, again, I don't know, I know Isaiah, but I saw a kid go from a boy to a man like, like overnight. The jump between worlds in the next day, I thought he was going in the right direction. To me that showed is like, he wants to be great after, he wants to do well. He doesn’t want to feel this again. He’s going to break through and he’s going to be a great college wrestler.

But when we had that conversation and he’s vulnerable, I'm vulnerable, I’m vulnerable right now sitting here talking about it because it’s more than wrestling. It’s much, much bigger not just for his family but for people around the world, a lot of people unfortunately have to experience this and he, like I said, that night, I saw a boy turn into a man because the next day and from that point on, I mean, it was a man possessed."

Isaiah with his family, father in the center

Isaiah Martinez celebrating with Mark Perry after winning an NCAA title

Can't express my gratitude towards the wrestling community enough. And everyone else that sent their support. My dad would be so proud man.
— Isaiah Martinez (@Imar165) October 31, 2015