Peter Fury picks Charles Martin to defeat Anthony Joshua

By Boxing News - 02/18/2016 - Comments

martin123By Scott Gilfoid: Peter Fury, the trainer for IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, is favoring IBF heavyweight champion Charles Martin (23-0-1, 21 KOs) to defeat #2 WBC, #2 WBO, #4 IBF Anthony Joshua (15-0, 15 KOs) in their fight on April 9 on Sky Box Office from the O2 Arena in London, UK.

Peter notes that the 6’5” Martin is someone who will hit you back if you nail him with something, and that could be a problem for Joshua. He has been dishing it out and not getting much in return from the fodder that his promoter Eddie Hearn has been digging up for him since he signed on with his Matchroom Sport promotions in 2013.

In that respect, Joshua has become somewhat spoiled because he fights like he expects his opposition to fall over immediately as soon as he bum rushes them in the first couple of rounds. Joshua’s last fight against Dillian Whyte was the first fight in which one of his opponents did not crumble within four rounds. Even that fight was hardly a contest because Whyte took it with a bad left shoulder. Joshua was effectively fighting a one-armed guy from the 2nd round until stopping him in the 7th.

“I think differently. I think it’s a hard fight for AJ. It’s not an easy [fight] for him. He needs full credit. He’s had 15 fights, is very raw still and has a lot to learn as far as I can see,” Peter Fury said to skysports.com. “The potential is there. He can definitely box; he can fight. He’s a talent but like I said, I think it’s early. I’d have to favor to Charles Martin, to be honest,” said Peter.

I have to agree with Peter. I think the 6’5” Martin wins this fight because he’s going to be all over Joshua in the early going, and he’s not going to crumble like the gawd awful opponents that Hearn has been throwing into the ring with him. It’s a fight where Joshua would need to potentially fall back on a plan-B if he wants to win.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_M2noiyhl7c

I think Joshua would need to actually show some boxing skills in this fight if he wants to beat Martin, because I don’t see him getting the job done by simply lowering his head and charging him like a mad bull.

Martin was superb in his last fight in January in defeating previously unbeaten Vyacheslav Glazkov by a third round stoppage. Martin didn’t get the full credit from that fight that he should have received for the way that he was nailing Glazkov with short, accurate punches to the head.

You can make a strong argument that the reason why Glazkov suffered a knee injury in the third round was that Martin kept nailing him with accurate left hands to the head when he was attempting to throw punches. Martin had laser vision in that fight with the way he would spot an opening and would nail Glazkov with punches. Martin could not miss.

“For me, Martin is a stiff test for Joshua. Make no mistake,” Peter said.” Martin is relaxed and slick. He punches accurately. He’s tall, he’s southpaw and he can box. This guy isn’t someone you’re going to hit and isn’t going to hit back. AJ will be in a serious contest with this guy.”

I think Martin is more than a stiff test for Joshua. I think he is a step too far for the 6’6” Brit. When you look at how Joshua has picked up many bad habits since he turned pro, it is not a good thing for him to be fighting a skilled fighter with the kind of accuracy, power, size and talent of Martin. I think Hearn has messed Joshua up by putting him in with terrible opposition for the last three years, because Joshua has gotten lazy and has not used any real methods in his fights.

It is like me playing chess with an unskilled player. You just go out there and wipe them out without learning anything. Now after all this wasted time, Joshua is going to take his bad habits into a fight against a talent in Charles Martin. If Joshua tries to fight like a primitive against Martin, I see him getting blown out quickly.

If Joshua is still hanging around after the seventh, I think he is going to be gasping for breath due to him not having the stamina to fight a full 12 round fight. This is in part would be the result of two things: A. The excess useless muscle that Joshua has put on since he turned pro. B. the fact that Joshua has not had any practice in being extended to 12 rounds in the past.



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