Charles Martin’s main motivation for continuing his boxing career is earning an opportunity to redeem himself.
Four years after the worst night of his professional life, the former IBF heavyweight champion is closer to securing a shot at avenging his loss against Anthony Joshua than some might realize. Martin (28-2-1, 15 KOs) is the IBF’s second-ranked contender for one of the four titles Joshua owns.
If Kubrat Pulev pulls out of his upcoming mandated match with Joshua, Martin would be the next available contender for the obligatory IBF defense due. Bulgaria’s Pulev (28-1, 14 KOs) withdrew from his mandatory shot at Joshua in October 2017 due to a shoulder injury, but they’re expected to finally fight sometime this summer at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.
Regardless, Martin’s impressive sixth-round knockout of Gerald Washington (20-4-1, 13 KOs) in an IBF eliminator February 22 in Las Vegas moved Martin one step closer toward a rematch with Joshua.
“That’s all I’m thinking about,” Martin told BoxingScene.com. “When I’m in there training, I’m training for Anthony Joshua. I wanna knock Anthony Joshua out. That’s how it goes when so many people write you off and the world writes you off, and then everybody is criticizing you about it. It just fuels you more to wanna get the get-back. Climb all the way back up the ladder and face that man that started all that sh*t for you.”
England’s Joshua dropped Martin twice with right hands and knocked out the St. Louis native in the second round of their fight for the IBF belt in April 2016 at O2 Arena in London. Fans and media mercilessly condemned Martin for his poor performance versus Joshua, who regained the IBF, IBO, WBA and WBO titles from Andy Ruiz Jr. in their 12-round rematch December 7 in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia.
The 6-feet-6, 237-pound Joshua (23-1, 21 KOs) comfortably beat Ruiz (33-2, 22 KOs) on all three scorecards, but Martin noticed a different fighter that night than the one that beat him.
“He was very scared to engage,” Martin said. “He didn’t engage at all. He ran, he ran. He boxed, he boxed. He moved, he moved. And that wasn’t even his style. He lost all that weight and stuff like that because he knew, but I don’t take nothing from him. He’s a good dude, a stand-up guy. But he’s scared to get punched. He’s scared to be in the trenches.”
The 6-feet-5, 250-pound Martin expects the 30-year-old Joshua to approach any powerful opponent the same way for the remainder of his career.
“I know with somebody that can punch, he won’t be the same,” Martin said. “He’s gonna be pretty wary.”
The 33-year-old Martin, who’s 5-1 (4 KOs) since Joshua beat him, just hopes he gets the chance to prove he is correct.
“That’s the only reason why I’m here,” Martin said. “That was not me, man. It was crazy. So, I have to get that back. I don’t feel right. It doesn’t sit right with me. I’m still here and I’m going for Joshua. I don’t care about no other fight – I’m going for Joshua. At the end of the day, that’s who I wanna fight, that’s who I wanna knock out. Andy got to him before me, but he seems pretty gun-shy. I can’t wait to punch him in his head.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.