Cosmopolitan, Las Vegas - Top lightweight contender Frank Martin (18-0, 12 KOs) had to fight through fire to secure a twelve round unanimous decision over Olympic bronze medalist Artem Harutyunyan (12-0, 7 KOs) in a WBC lightweight eliminator. (photo by Ryan Hafey)
The scores were 114-113, 115-112, 115-112 for Martin.
Martin fell behind in the fight and was forced to rally down the stretch, including a big twelfth round where a knockdown was called. Harutyunyan was in serious trouble, with his left eye closing shut, which forced him to take a knee to obtain some recovery time as Martin was attempting to finish him off.
Around the tenth round, Martin's head trainer, Derrick James, advised his boxer that he was likely behind in the fight and a knockout was needed to secure the victory.
Harutyunyan led 58-56 on all the judges’ scorecards after six rounds but Martin won the last four rounds from the judges to seal the win.
The once-beaten Olympian disagreed with the scorecards and seems focused to have more big fights in the division.
Harutyunyan, who admittedly is a big fan of Martin's promoter Errol Spence, is not ruling out the possibility of taking part in a rematch, but he's also willing to move up in weight to 140-pounds to pursue a big fight.
“I don't agree,” Harutyunyan said of the decision. “If it's possible I will fight him again, but if it's not, not a problem. He's just a fighter. He's not Errol Spence. I'm a big fan of Errol Spence. My plan is to become a world champion, or at least fight for the world title, maybe against Devin Haney or Gervonta Davis. I can go up one weight class, it's not a problem for me. But I'm so happy to be here and I want to come back.”
