By Mark Eisner: Frank Martin (17-0, 12 KOs) dominated Michel Rivera (24-1, 14 KOs), beating him by a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision in a WBA lightweight title eliminator on Saturday night at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas.
The scores were 117-110, 118-109, and 120-107.
Rivera was knocked down in the seventh, and dominated virtually every round of the one-sided fight.
Undercard results:
- Vladimir Shishkin (14-0, 8 KOs) outboxed the big-punching former IBF super middleweight champion José Uzcátegui (32-5, 27 KOs), beating him by a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision in an IBF 168-lb title eliminator. The scores were 115-113, 117-111, and 117-111 victory. Uzcategui made a late surge in the championship rounds, but it wasn’t enough. With the victory, Shishkin is the IBF mandatory for undisputed champion Canelo Alvarez. Whether he ever getts a chance to fight Canelo remains to be seen.
- Vincent Astrolabio (18-3, 13 KOs) stopped Nikolai Potapov (23-3-1, 11 KOs) in the sixth round in an IBF title eliminator bout. The heavy-handed Astrolabio knocked Potapov down in rounds one, five, and six. In the sixth, Astrolabio dropped Patapov for the third and final time. The contest was then halted at 1:26 of the round.
- Light welterweight prospect Omar Juarez (14-1, 5 KOs) defeated Austin Dulay (15-4, 11 KOs) by a foul-plagued 10 round points decision. Despite being penalized three times for low blows, Juarez still was able to get the win. Juarez was twice docked points in round two and another time in round four in this ugly-to-watch fight.
- Undefeated middleweight prospect Elijah Garcia (13-0, 11 KOs) stopped Cruse Stewart (8-2, 6 KOs) in the second round of a scheduled eight round contest. Referee Robert Byrd halted the contest at 1:33 of the second round after the 19-year-old Garcia blasted the 33-year-old Steward with a left to the head.
In the chief support bout, former IBF super middleweight champion Jose Uzcategui (32-4, 27 KO) hopes to put himself in line for a title shot against undisputed 168-lb champion Canelo Alvarez by defeating Vladimir Shishkin (13-0, 8 KO) tonight in their IBF title eliminator bout.
Full card:
Michel Rivera vs. Frank Martin
Jose Uzcategui vs. Vladimir Shishkin
Vincent Astrolabio (vs. Nikolai Potapov
Omar Juarez (vs. Austin Dulay
Elijah Garcia (vs. Cruse Stewart
“I think he’s very powerful and very skillful, and you’ll see what we’ve been working on,” said Frank Martin’s trainer Derrick James to K.O. Artist Sports.
“His last opponent [Jackson Marinez] was someone that Frank knocked out a year and a half ago. So, I think the guy wasn’t the same guy. Frank took a lot out of him. You kind of gauge it. The guy hit him a lot.
“That fight may be good for him, or it may be bad for him. I think he’s close,” said James when asked how close Martin is to getting a title shot, assuming he wins tonight against Rivera.
“Every fight is about getting more depth. In boxing, you can’t go backwards. You take a couple of more steps. It doesn’t matter. Fights in between, it doesn’t matter,” said James.
“I feel like they’re going to take notice, but they’re still going to try and play me under. They’re still going to keep me low,” said Frank Martin to Showtime Boxing about his prediction of how some boxing fans will treat him after he defeats Rivera tonight.
Martin’s career moving fast
“I’m going to get some love from it, but it’s not going to be crazy like jump. They’re still going to downplay me. When I moved up here, that’s when the ball started rolling fast with the step-up of opponents and everything.
“Me taking this fight at 16-0, already in a title eliminator is, it all happened so fast. That’s why I’m taking this fight. It’s a title eliminator, so it’s going to put me in that position [to challenge WBA lightweight champion Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis or undisputed champ Devin Haney].
“Tank has got his fights scheduled. Let’s say me and him were going to fight. That would push it until the end of the year. Devin has got his stuff going on. So I feel that title shot will come at the end of the year.
“Yeah, I feel like I’m ready. I’m ready for all of them. They put on their shoes like me. I’m there. That was before I started training with Derrick,” said Martin about him sparring with Tank Davis years ago.
“That was just me going on my natural [ability]. Now I’m slowing everything down. I know what to do. I have more experience. It just showed me that these guys aren’t off the radar. They ain’t doing nothing to you that you didn’t have happen to you. It wasn’t like.
“I didn’t go in there like, ‘This is Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis.’ I didn’t get in the ring like that. That’s what a lot of people do. I got in there like he’s just another sparring partner. The sparring was solid.
“It was in Vegas in Floyd’s gym. There were around 40 people in the gym when it happened. Floyd was even there. It was live. It was loud. They weren’t hitting the ring or anything, but everyone was stuck kind of.
“I was a beast,” said Martin when asked what was the best compliment he received after sparring Gervonta. “They were like, ‘You looking like a beast.’
“Back then, I didn’t understand my defense. I wasn’t as fundamental. I was fighting more with the style that I’m comfortable with hands down.
“I didn’t have an understanding of basic fundamental boxing. Now I’ve got that fundamentally down now, defensively, countering, using my hands. Now I can put my finesse to it, and go back to my fundamentals. I know how to mix it all together.
“His training method,” said Martin when asked why Derrick James is such a successful coach. “He trains us the same, but different. “He’s going to train you off of what you’ve got. He’s going to make you train with the basics.
“Every fighter has something that they’re good at. So he’s going to peep what you’re good at, and then he’s going to try to get you better at it, and then add on certain stuff to it.
“We were working out a lot for this fight, but we were working out prior to. We were doing a lot of one-on-one, doing wind sprints late at night,” said Martin discussing his working out with his promoter Errol Spence for this fight with Rivera.
“I was driving, thinking about it, ‘I’m training with Errol Spence.’ We’re together, but it don’t never hit me.”
Undefeated lightweights Michel Rivera & Frank Martin meet in a 12-round battle in a WBA 135-lb title eliminator tonight in a PBC card on Showtime boxing at the Chelsea inside The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. The event begins at 10:00 p.m. ET.