By Thomas Gerbasi
Heavyweight contender Charles Martin may have been in California for the last seven years, but the St. Louis native still can’t escape that good ol’ Midwest weather as he trains for his January 16 bout against Vyacheslav Glazkov in Big Bear.
“I’m actually still in it because I’m in the mountains and it’s cold and snowing,” he laughs, more relaxed than anyone has the right to be a little over two weeks before challenging for a heavyweight title for the first time. But the 29-year-old Martin has a unique approach to life and his sport, so this is no surprise.
In fact, if he defeats the unbeaten Glazkov and claims the IBF belt at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, he might be the first heavyweight champion in history whose athletic ambitions had nothing to do with winning a prestigious boxing title.
“Growing up, it meant nothing,” Martin said when asked what the world heavyweight title meant to him in his formative years. “I knew it was very prestigious, and I knew it was something very honorable, but I never thought about boxing, so it didn’t really mean anything to me. Everybody knew that was the ultimate thing for a man’s man to have, to be called heavyweight champion of the world. I just didn’t imagine myself ever boxing.”
Instead, Martin had other athletic avenues he was looking at while also seeking a career in the meantime.
“I was going to go into the military,” he said. “I passed the ASVAB test and I was going to go into the Marines and possibly do mixed martial arts. Around that time, that’s when the UFC was starting to take off and people were taking notice of MMA. Whatever the fight sport was, I was good at it.”
The 6-foot-5 Martin wasn’t too bad at basketball either.
“I was also thinking about basketball and that maybe I could get recruited off the developmental league,” he said. “I was in job corps and I was like ‘man, what if I start hooping?’ I was dunking on people in the gym, being aggressive and hitting threes, and I’m like ‘man, I can go in the NBA, they’ll recruit me.’”
He laughs.
“That was just a crazy dream. I was already 20 years old.”
It may have been too old for basketball, but not for a heavyweight boxer, and as he eventually made his way to the boxing gym and began winning amateur fights, he found an athletic road that looked like one with a future, and he made his pro debut in 2012 at the age of 26.
But a heavyweight championship still wasn’t on his radar.
“I don’t even think I was thinking about that when I had my pro debut,” Martin said. “I wasn’t thinking that far ahead. I guess that’s probably why I made it here now. I always try to set small goals and accomplish the small ones and then move on to the next one. So I didn’t say ‘hey, I’m debuting, I’m going to be champ of the world and fight for the heavyweight title one day.’ I just said I’m going to fight and make the best of it. I’m going to get better every day, try to be better than I was yesterday and we’ll see where we take it.”
Coached by 1984 Olympic Gold medalist Henry Tillman, Martin has raced out to a 22-0-1 (20 KOs) record. He’s been brought along at a nice pace, putting him in a good place as he prepares for Glazkov, and while he was originally scheduled to face Dominic Breazeale on December 12, when Tyson Fury was stripped of his IBF title after defeating Wladimir Klitschko in November, Martin got the chance to compete for the belt he never even considered fighting for.
“It was unfortunate that he (Fury) got stripped, but for “Prince” Charles Martin, it was a good thing,” he said. “So we’re gonna get this taken care of.”
And if anything, Martin is an honest man, so he admits that when he knocked out unbeaten Alexander Flores in four rounds in April of 2014 to win the NABO title, he did start thinking of gold belts.
“When I won my NABO title I said I’m going to get the WBO,” he said. “I was real happy about that.”
So this boxing thing isn’t so bad after all, eh?
“Boxing’s done me well,” Martin said. “I can’t complain. I’m just blessed to be right here, right now, in this moment, and I’m taking advantage of it to the fullest and will get out of this sport as soon as possible.”
It’s the smartest approach a fighter can take to this toughest of sports. Of course, history has painted the heavyweight title with a romantic brush, but that brush often doesn’t cover the end of such storied careers as those put together by Louis, Ali, Tyson and so many others.
“My life does matter with this, and every time, I fight like my life depends on it,” he said. “But I’m more of a realist, someone who’s in touch with what’s around me and reality. I have to see everything for what it is. I can’t look in the mirror and lie to myself.”
But if he’s being truthful, Martin knows that he has the talent and determination to beat Glazkov and change his life forever. And that’s just fine for the guy who never thought about being heavyweight champion.
“I’m ready to take it all in and embrace all my accomplishments and just enjoy it,” he said. “I just want to enjoy this ride. It’s brief, it doesn’t last forever, so I just want to make the best of this moment.”