By Adam Baskin: Frank Martin predicts that he’ll “dominate” the undefeated Michel Rivera this Saturday, December 17th in their WBA lightweight title eliminator on Showtime at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Las Vegas.
Martin (16-0, 12 KOs) and Rivera (24-0, 14 KOs) will headline a 12-round scheduled bout in their 10:00 p.m. ET event. The winner of the Martin vs. Rivera fight will be mandatory for WBA 135-lb champion Devin Haney.
With Haney expected to move up to 140 in 2023 after his title defense against Vasyl Lomachenko, the Martin-Rivera winner could either be elevated to full WBA lightweight champion or ordered to face WBA secondary belt holder Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis. If that fight gets ordered, it’s anyone’s guess whether Tank will agree to it.
“I feel like we’re both two hungry fighters, and it’s one of those fights. It’s an opportunity for either one of us to get a title shot,” said Frank Martin to Fight Hub TV about his bout this Saturday night against the unbeaten Michel Rivera on Showtime.
“I’m going into the fight with the dominate mentality from round one,” said Martin. “Those beginning rounds are my figuring out rounds, figuring out what he’s going to be throwing the most.
“I’m like a computer. Once I’ve got him figured out and seeing everything he’s doing, I’ve got everything calculated, then I’m going in and [dominating]. I’m flowing.
“He’s definitely going to be surprised about my power. He said over there that he’s going to be the stronger man. He may have the height and the reach, but he definitely won’t be the stronger man physically or when it comes to the power,” said Martin.
“He’s going to wake up when I touch you, and he’s going to see, ‘I wasn’t expecting this.’ I think he thinks that he’s stronger than me. That’s the wrong mentality to have,” Martin said when told that Rivera thinks he’s going to bully him.
“I feel like he’s a balanced fighter. He can counterpunch, he can box, and can get in there on the inside with you,” said Martin about Rivera. “But I feel like with what we trained for him, we got a great game plan for everything.
“If you want to be on the outside, if you want to counter, we got something for everything. This has been a great camp, so we’re ready for everything. We got something for all of that,” Martin said when told that Rivera likes to fight on the outside and use his height.
“If you watch his fights, he does a lot better when he’s got the fighters on the outside. He hasn’t fought any Frank Martin’s, so he’s not going to be able to keep me on the outside. If I want to get inside, I’m going to get inside.
“We got a game plan for everything that he does well and everything that he does bad. I feel like the fight is going to start off good. From the jump, it’s going to be one of those fights that start off as an action-packed fight.
“I feel in the fifth and sixth rounds, that’s when I’ll be able to take full control of the fight and do what Frank Martin does. I feel like I’m more of a patient fighter. I got a lot of power, but I don’t go into fights trying to knock guys out.
“I like to take my team to see what guys do in there and what he’s not doing well and kind of capitalize off of that. I’m playing chess, staying patient in there. But if something is coming early and I see a shot, early, I’m going to go for it.
“It’s one of those things where you got to do what you got to do to be in a better position,” Martin continued.”I want it. I believe in myself, and I’m ready to go.
“Sometimes it can be the fighters not wanting to take those kinds of fights because they’re scared to lose. Then you’ve got fighters that have teams that feel that their fighter isn’t right for it, but you might feel it. You always want to make sure everything with your team is good. We’re good over here; we’re ready,” said Martin.