Comments Thread For: Hearn Admits Making Joshua-Martin Was a 'Difficult Decision'

[Jewish-Reptile]

Hearn and Joshua desperate to avoid Parker they've gone all chips in versus Martin.

[ianjamsie]

Spot on , just my thoughts , Martin is big, strong, heavy handed and awkward,unbeaten and reminds me of a raw Riddock Bowe ...I see AJ as favourite but 1/7 on is far too rich.
It's one I will get to see.

Martin might be worth a sneaky £50 @5/1.....good fight.

Save your money. Class gap is huge.

Hearn is more bothered about the first defence

[daggum]

Am I the only one questioning Hearns decision? Joshua is already a big money fighter with little money or positioning gained by winning a third rate world title from a fighter nobody had heard of. Martin on the other hand is a big, powerful unknown fighter and one good solid left hand could derail Joshua's career significantly. I'm interested in the fight and I'm glad it's made, buti don't look at the risk/reward favorably from Hearns perspective.

think about it this way. if he didn't fight martin who else would he fight? chisora perhaps? chisora is almost certainly better than martin so why not get a belt in the process? the british media will go nuts and his popularity will skyrocket even more. the casual person in the uk doesn't know the difference between martin and wilder. they just know heavyweight champ! ohhh sounds impressive.

[BodiesInFlight]

Hearn and Joshua desperate to avoid Parker they've gone all chips in versus Martin.

For Joshua to be avoiding Parker there would have to be an offer on the table.

There isn't.

Parker is way behind Joshua at this point. He best get a move on if he wants an AJ fight.

[fredhopple]

Martin is terrible untested unskilled a nothing a loser

Charles martin looks like he just woke up in a cave after 20 years. Because Martin is an untested bum who just happened to get some fake fraud title belt and is willing to give it to Joshua for some cash. Look at Martin and tell the Bear Cat that there is a brain in that nappy afro steel wool unkept Fro? Joshua was given a gift and dimwit Martin is willing to travel to the UK to hand the belt to Joshua. What a hoot.

[l9uis]

Okay I have had a look at quite a few of Martins fights

He actually has quite good timing. Picking his shots well.

People seem to mistake his patient style for being slow. There's a difference. Joshua comes out in round one, ****, ****, and its an explosive style.

Martin is relaxed... Loose... Calm. Patiently waiting and picks his shots well. Jab is a nuisance and a decent range-finder, paws it a little but he looks heavy handed so the blunt force of the jab will still be felt. He actually puts some punches in bunches and isn't as bad as everyone is making out.

He has some skills and throws some good counters. When a fighter comes at him, Martin takes a simple step back, pulls his head back, and throws a well timed counter. It looks like a simple execution but it isn't and not many heavies can do this despite it being quite effective.

Joshua seems to struggle defending on the right side where he doesn't see the punches coming. Martin being southpaw, will take advantage of that. Joshua hasn't fought a southpaw in the pros yet.

Still, some lighter footwork, slipping of the head movement and better conditioning wouldn't go amiss for Martin lol.

The excitement of a heavyweight fight means all it takes is one punch in round 1 or 12 to end a fight. I'm still going for Joshua 60/40 in his favour. So while I expect a Joshua win... A 40% chance is still quite big for Martin. There were more questions than answers from Joshua's last win against Whyte.

Side note... The IBF rankings are horrible. With the red and gold crown...its by far the best looking belt. But how on earth is this organisation happy to mandate some of these fighters?

While Joshua ideally isn't ready to be world champ, the fact that some of his mandatory defences will be against some very poor opposition makes up for this. Enabling him to still learn on the job while having a world title around his waist.

Eddie Hearn seems to have spotted this.

Kell Brook has the IBF and his mandatries were JoJo Dan and Kevin Bizier (can't wait for Errol Spence to actually be in line next).

IBF Super Middleweight Champ James Degale is fighting a guy next who I have never heard of.

And looking at the IBF heavyweight rankings, its a who's-who of bums. Aside from Joseph Parker, who I think can be a genuine contender.

How can the bosses at IBF be happy to actually have these fighters representing their belts?

If I was head of IBF I would be corrupt as fxck if those people were in line for my belt next lol.

Being champ was meant to mean the best fighting the best. From the defences of Brook to Degale to Martin... The IBF are not holding themselves very high in this respect.

[Gods We Faked]

think about it this way. if he didn't fight martin who else would he fight? chisora perhaps? chisora is almost certainly better than martin so why not get a belt in the process? the british media will go nuts and his popularity will skyrocket even more. the casual person in the uk doesn't know the difference between martin and wilder. they just know heavyweight champ! ohhh sounds impressive.

The causal person in the UK is probably more interested in the British belts Joshua holds than Martin's IBF bauble. Joshua V Chisora is a British super fight, Martin is nobody.

[ianjamsie]

Replace Chisoras name with Haye and you will have a point

[about.thousands]

oh wow genius

You gotta admit you walked right into that one....

[about.thousands]

More of a boxing fan than particular fighters. Though admittedly one that hasn't paid too much attention to the heavyweight division for a while. I do like Fury. He's progressed a hell of a lot over the years and I'm eternally grateful to the man for his dethronement of Klitschko. Why do you ask?

I didn't detect much bias from your post but I've notice Fury fans don't want the Joshua-Martin fight to happen. They keep saying it's to early for Joshua and he needs more experience. One even told me the truth. He said if Joshua wins the UK will treat him more like a champ than Fury. It'll be interesting to see who the UK Fury fans root for this fight.