Charles Martin secured a big win in February when he stopped Gerald Washington in the co-featured bout on the Deontay Wilder-Tyson Fury pay-per-view undercard at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Martin started off strong and dropped Washington in the 6th round. He would rise to his feet but referee Tony Weeks didn't like what he saw and waived the fight off.
A few weeks after the fight, Martin reflected on that victory when asked by a group of reporter after Robert Helenius upset Adam Kownacki at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
"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.
As for what is next, the former IBF heavyweight champion said that the plan is to secure a final eliminator bout with the organization with the hopes of landing a rematch IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO champion Anthony Joshua. Martin was stopped in 2 rounds by Joshua in 2016.
"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.
With the rapid spread of the coronavirus several events have been canceled or postponed so proposed fight dates at this point are only speculation.
Joshua is scheduled to face his IBF mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev on June 20th so the next IBF mandatory won't be due until 2021.
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