By Huck Allen: Next Saturday, January 1st, FOX Sports PPV will be putting on an attractive heavyweight-filled card with former two-time world title challenger Luis ‘King Kong’ Ortiz facing former IBF champion Charles Martin at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. The event kicks off at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT. Ortiz vs. Martin event cost: $39.99 on PPV.
The organizers of the Ortiz-Martin card have assembled an exciting collection of five heavyweight bouts with excellent talent.
Ortiz vs. Martin is an IBF heavyweight title eliminator bout with the winner to be made mandatory for IBF champion Oleksandr Usyk. With any luck, Anthony Joshua could recapture his IBF title with a win over Usyk next April.
Joshua winning could potentially result in the Ortiz-Martin winner getting a big payday if AJ holds onto his title long enough to defend against one of these two aging heavyweights.
Luis Ortiz could be too much for Martin
The 42-year-old Cuban southpaw Luis Ortiz (32-2, 27 KOs) has twice fought for world titles against former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder, losing both fights by knockout. However, Ortiz gave Deontay a lot of problems in both contests and dominated the Alabama native at times.
Since losing his rematch with Deontay by a seventh round knockout in November 2019, Ortiz rebounded with a first round knockout win over Alexander Flores in November 2020.
Yeah, it’s an odd date to stage a fight card, particularly one in which boxing fans are going to be asked to purchase it on pay-per-view, but the competition will be nonexistent. If fans aren’t too hungover from New Year’s eve, they might be willing to plunk down the $39.99 to order the Ortiz vs. Martin card.
Has Charles Martin improved?
Five years ago, the 35-year-old Charles Martin briefly held the IBF heavyweight title after defeating Vyacheslav Glazkov by a third round knockout in a fight. The Ukrainian suffered a freak leg injury that halted the bout prematurely. Interestingly, Glazkov would never fight again after suffering the loss.
In Martin’s first defense of his IBF title, he traveled to London, England, and was knocked out in two rounds by the British 2012 Olympic gold medalist Anthony Joshua at the O2 Arena in April 2016.
Since that loss, Martin has won five out of his last six fights, with his only defeat coming at the hands of Poland’s Adam Kownacki in a narrow 10 round unanimous decision defeat in September 2019.
Martin’s wins have come against these low-level fighters:
- Gerald Washington
- Gregory Corbin
- Byron Polley
- Michael Marrone
- Daniel Martz
Given the low-level opposition that Charles Martin has faced since his loss to Joshua, it isn’t easy to ascertain whether he’s improved in the last five years. We know that Martin is older at 35, but we don’t know if he’s necessarily better than the fighter that Joshua destroyed in two rounds.
Frank Sanchez vs. Carlos Negron in co-feature
Also on the Ortiz-Martin card, undefeated highly ranked heavyweight contender #5 WBO, #6 WBC Frank Sanchez (19-0, 13 KOs) will be facing the lanky 6’6″ 2008 Olympian Carlos Negron (25-3, 20 KOs) in a 10 round scheduled chief support bout.
The 34-year-old Puerto Rican native Negron has won his last five fights since losing to Dominic Breazeale and Brian Howard.
For his part, the 29-year-old undefeated Frank Sanchez, who comes from Cuba, is coming off a one-sided 10 round unanimous decision win over big-punching Efe Ajagba on October 9th on the undercard of Tyson Fury vs. Deontay Wilder 3 in Las Vegas.
Sanchez and Negron share a familiar opponent in Brain Howard, who Carlos lost to and Frank recently destroyed.
Known for his slick fighting style, Sanchez has wins over Nagy Aguilera, Julian Fernandez, Joey Dawejko, and Victor Bisbal.
Luis Ortiz vs. Charles Martin undercard:
- Frank Sanchez vs. Carlos Negron
- Jonathan Rice vs. Michael Coffie
- Gerald Washington vs. Ali Eren Demirezen
- Viktor Vykhryst vs. Iago Kiladze