Charles Martin: Hard Work Got Me Back
When “Prince” Charles Martin (28-2-1, 25 KO’s) initially became a champion, many labeled him as a paper champion. In 2016, Martin was awarded the vacant IBF world heavyweight title when his opponent, Vyacheslav Glazkov, suffered a third round knee injury and could not continue. Then Martin was accused of essentially selling his belt to Anthony “AJ” Joshua (23-1, 21 KO’s) in his very next fight.
Charles Martin flew over to the UK for a handsome purse of roughly $8 million dollars. Once under the raucous roof of the O2 Arena in Greenwich, London, Martin was floored a pair of times en route to a second-round stoppage. Following the rapid loss, Martin was deemed to be damaged goods and a thing of the past.
NEW DAY, NEW LIFE
Despite being well aware of all the hateful chatter directed toward his name, Charles Martin kept his head down and remained true to his craft. He would suffer one more setback at the hands of rising heavyweight contender Adam “Babyface” Kownacki (20-0, 15 KO’s) though.
Yet, even after that loss, Martin worked himself into an IBF title eliminator with Gerald Washington on the undercard of Wilder v Fury 2. Prince Charles made good use of his fortuitous co-main event billing. When in with Washington, Martin swiftly emerged as the more skillful and crafty of the two fighters.
Once Martin figured out that Washington was a sitting duck for his left-hand, the rebuilt southpaw put it to deadly effective use. Prince Charles repeatedly caught Washington with those nifty knuckles until he dropped him in the sixth. He did credit Washington for being a formidable foe when it was all said and done in an exclusive interview with SecondsOut.
“He’s a great athlete, so his step back game was real, real good, so I had to kind of throw that jab out there and let him keep moving, moving, moving and eventually he would slow down. Yeah it was hard to get to him, I’m more trying to be the pressure fighter, but it’s hard to put pressure on a guy like that, that gets out so quick.
…and I just started setting up that straight left-hand, the lead left-hand. Once I figured out he was a sucker for it, you know that’s all I was pretty much looking for, to the body and then lead with the left-hand.”
BACK MOUNTAIN CLIMBING
With a meaningful win, Martin has maneuvered himself back into title contention. It’s a situation that has not come his way easily.
“[when asked how he got to this point] A lot of hard work in the gym, in the gym, in the gym, sweat, sweat, sweat in the gym, in the gym every day! My strength coaches, my coaches, I just have a good team around me, you know what I mean? A positive team and they’re just helping me build every day. I walk in the gym ready to build and they’re willing to help, so that’s when we get good results.”
By: Bakari Simpson
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