??.Charles Martin is a great fighter Charles Martin is a great fighter and a hungry competitor so I am going to have to produce the performance of my career to claim that belt.? ?Said Anthony Joshua perhaps with tongue in cheek.
?Life is all about taking opportunities and when the chance to become Heavyweight of the world presented itself, there was no holding Anthony back.??Eddie Hearn
The unbeaten Joshua (15-0) will challenge the unbeaten Martin (23-0-1) for the IBF World Heavyweight title at The O2 on April 9 and likely will end one of the shortest championship reigns in heavyweight history, for despite what Joshua says, Martin is not a great fighter or a hungry competitor ..:
However, ?Prince? Martin did live up to the challenge he issued when he said: ?I told my Team I wanted the best challenger possible for my first defence and Anthony Joshua?s name kept coming up.? Unfortunately, Martin will get what he wished for or maybe that should be fortunately (see rationale below).
To make matters worse (or maybe better depending on your point of view), the fight will be in England and the fan interest should be enormous given the distinct possibility of England having two Heavyweight Champions at the same time.
Said Martin: ?I?m coming to the UK to make a statement that I am the best heavyweight in the world and no-one is taking my title. ?I?m World Champion, so that doesn?t mean just sit back and make easy defences in the US, it means facing the biggest challenges out there. I respect Anthony Joshua and everything he has accomplished, but on April 9 he?s getting knocked out.?
Possible Rationale
Joshua is not getting knocked out and Team Martin knows it. It probably also its own limitations and the fact the Glazkov win was a fluke. Martin will not draw flies fighting the US, so taking this fight in Joshua?s hometown area presents the greatest monetary reward in the shortest amount of time, and that scenario fits well with the current business model for boxing. The one glitch in the model is that the risk-reward equation could be impacted disproportionally if Charles takes an especially brutal beating. In the end, however, he will be garnering an early retirement package thanks, by extension, to Glazkof?s trick knee. And that?s as good as it?s going to get for Prince Charles Martin.
