Charles Martin hoping Final Eliminator bout in July
Charles Martin, or as I know him as, “The Lebron James of Boxing”, is currently in an ideal position after knocking out Gerald Washington in the co-main event of the Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder fight card last month.
Speaking to the media after the upset victory of Robert Helenius over Adam Kownacki at Barclays Center two weeks ago, Martin explained the knockout to those on hand.
“We all look to counter punch a southpaw naturally so what I did was wait till the rounds progressed and work the body a little bit and get him tired. Once I knew there ain’t no steam on his punches I started looking for the counter punches. I caught him with a left cross, slipped his jab and threw the left cross. It was over after that. They could have let him go on some more but it wouldn’t have been a good idea. At the end of the day it is about protecting the fighters so I think it was a good stoppage,” Martin explained to the media.
IT'S OVER! ? Charles Martin KO's Gerald Washington in Round 6!
Buy #WilderFury2 on PPV: https://t.co/auWEj0uOn9 pic.twitter.com/g9kmc5nYCF
— FOX Sports: PBC (@PBConFOX) February 23, 2020
With that knockout, Martin is now the #2 ranked fighter in the IBF. The importance of that is once all of the Cornoavirus pandemic sorts itself out, he’ll be one step closer to another chance to capture the IBF title back from the man who stopped him in 2016, Anthony Joshua.
In that bout, Joshua stopped Martin in the second round to not only become new IBF champion at the time but give Martin the distinction of having the second shortest championship reign of a title at 85 days.
Martin hopes once everything calms down and we get boxing back in full swing, he will be back to in-ring action in July.
“We are going to be fighting like in July. Probably any of the top 5 guys in the IBF. We are looking at all of them for the final eliminator and then we will sit and wait for the title shot with Joshua,” Martin stated.
That final eliminator will be one step closer t challenging for the IBF title he lost to Joshua back in 2016. Joshua himself is taking on the current mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev all things staying the same on June 20 of this year in Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England. Martin after the final eliminator bout if victorious would be the next mandatory up sometime in 2021 for the IBF ititle.
Marquis Johns is a unknown humorist and avid boxing fan. His love for the sweet science goes back to when matches were 15 rounds and has been covering fights since closed-circuit pay-per-views. Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth is not only a quote by Mike Tyson, it's also a pretty good reminder to keep your guard up.
