By Allan Fox: Leon Margules, a promoter for unbeaten IBF heavyweight champion Charles Martin (23-0-1, 21 KOs), is reportedly in talks with Eddie Hearn, the promoter for unbeaten British heavyweight Anthony Joshua (15-0, 15 KOs), to setup a potential fight between them that could take place in the UK if Hearn and Joshua are interested.
Martin and his management are interested in the Joshua fight, but it’s unclear whether Hearn wants to make that fight happen right now due to Joshua still being green and needing experience.
“We’ve reached out to Joshua’s people,” Margules said to RingTV.com. “I think there’s interest on their side but I just don’t know if they think they’re ready yet. They know they have a kid they’re holding back. I think it’s a fight that can be made if they think they’re ready.”
Martin, 29, stopped previously unbeaten Vyacheslav Glazkov in the third round last January after Glazkov suffered a knee injury. Glazkov had problems with the 6’5” Martin’s size and reach in that fight. The 6’6” Joshua would have the size to compete with Martin in theory.
What we don’t know is how Joshua would handle getting hit back, and how he would handle potentially getting taken into the deep waters. Joshua was huffing and puffing after just two rounds in his last fight against Dillian Whyte last December. The pace of the fight slowed down dramatically after the second round due to Whyte suffering a shoulder injury and gassing himself quickly.
“We’d go to England if there is a fight,” Margules said. “The kid [Joshua] is a superstar over there. Everyone is saying he’s the second coming so let’s find out. Al is the adviser,” Margules. I’m the one talking to Hearn and then I’ll be taking the offer to management since (Haymon) is management.”
Haymon would need to give the green light for a fight between Martin and Joshua, and it’s unclear whether he’d agree to a fight like that. It would be a rather risky fight for Martin, and Haymon not see it as an intelligent fight to make right now, especially when there are far easier options out there for Martin to fight.
Besides Joshua being a possibility, Margules has other candidates for Martin, such as former world title challenger Chris Arreola (37-4-1, 31 KOs), unbeaten U.S. Olympian Dominic Breazeale (17-0, 15 KOs) and surprisingly Artur Szpilka. That would be a really odd choice if Martin were to face Szpilka, because he was viciously knocked out in his last fight in the 9th round by WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder.
It might be a bad idea to have Szpilka fighting for a world title in back to back fights, because he hasn’t done anything to redeem himself since the loss to Wilder. It would be putting the International Boxing Federation in an odd position to bless a poor match.
While Joshua (15-0, 15 KOs) is a strong possibility, Margules also mentioned several other candidates, such as Chris Arreola (37-4-1, 31 KOs), Dominic Breazeale (17-0, 15 KOs) and the recently vanquished Artur Szpilka, who was knocked cold by a right hand last month by Deontay Wilder in a title fight.
“He wants to fight him,” Margules said of Szpilka. “He’s told me, ‘You promote him and you’re my promoter. Let’s make the fight.’ He wants that fight.”
The boxing public might not be interested in seeing Martin fight Szpilka. It would be seen as a cherry pick type of fight by Martin and his management.
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