By Scott Gilfoid: IBF heavyweight champion Charles Martin (23-0-1, 21 KOs) expects IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (25-0, 18 KOs) to beat 39-year-old former world champion Wladimir Klitschko (64-4, 53 KOs) in their rematch this year. Martin, 6’5”, expects the fight to be easier for Fury than it was last time. There still isn’t a date or a venue for the Fury-Klitschko rematch, but the contract for the fight has reportedly already been worked out.
Fury, 27, did not have an easy time against Wladimir last November in beating him by a close 12 round unanimous decision in Dusseldorf, Germany. If Martin thinks that Fury will do better against Wladimir in the rematch, then he must be assuming that Wladimir will not be using his right hand again like last time.
Martin also must be thinking that Fury will be more offensive-minded than last time, because Fury was fighting almost as timidly as Wladimir. The two of them fought like a couple of chickens in my opinion. The only thing they needed was chicken feathers and they would have been perfect. If Fury is going to open up a little more with his offense, it is going to put him in danger of being nailed by one of Wladimir’s right hand counters, and that might not be a good thing for the fragile-chinned Fury.
“I expect Tyson Fury to repeat his performance in the Wladimir Klitschko rematch. Could be even more one-sided, because Klitschko is just an average fighter when he’s afraid to throw his right hand, and he clearly was versus a target as big and moving well as Tyson,” Martin said to Fightnews.com. “I also think that Wilder will beat [Alexander] Povetkin. No matter who is next for me – I just want to prove my words in the ring. I want them all!”
Well, I do agree with Martin about Wilder beating Povetkin. Martin at least makes some sense when he talks about that fight. I think it is going to be a mismatch much worse than Wladimir’s whipping of Povetkin in 2013. That was not even a fight. Povetkin was too little to land anything against Wladimir, and the fight resembled that of a heavyweight fighting a short-armed cruiserweight.
Povetkin looked like a bulked up cruiserweight that had no business being in the same ring with the much taller Wladimir. Povetkin has won all of his fights since then, but he has not been fighting high caliber opposition. Povetkin did beat the 6’7” Mariusz Wach last November by a 12th round knockout, but Wach is so, so slow and just a mediocre heavyweight at best. Povetkin did not shine against Wach, and you could tell he was bothered by his size.
As for Martin’s prediction of Fury beating Wladimir easier in the rematch than in the first fight, I think this is dream stuff on Martin’s part. Wladimir will be throwing many more right hands in this fight than he did in the first fight, and he will be landing many of those right hand. If Fury fights with more aggression like Martin thinks he will, then I see Wladimir taking advantage of that by tagging Fury with some monstrous shots that puts him on the canvas.
Martin could be facing unbeaten British heavyweight Anthony Joshua next on April 9. It depends on whether there’s enough money in the fight for Martin, and whether Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn is willing to put his golden goose in with a dangerous opponent that could potentially beat him.
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