By Sean Jones: #5 Frank ‘The Ghost’ Martin is ready to put in a dominant performance against unbeaten #8 Artem Harutyunyan in their WBC lightweight title eliminator in the main event tonight, at The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. Showtime Championship Boxing will be showing the event at 10:00 p.m. ET.
The WBC already has a mandatory in place with Shakur Stevenson; Martin vs. Harutyunyan will be a secondary one. It sounds crazy, but that’s how the sanctioning bodies do things.
The 28-year-old Martin (17-0, 12 KOs) is open to fighting the big names at 135 right now, but he’s not in the position to get the fights he wants.
If he can put on a good showing against the 2016 Olympic bronze medalist Harutyunyan (12-0, 7 KOs), it’ll put more pressure on the top dogs to fight him.
In the chief support bout on Saturday’s card on Showtime, Elvin Rodriguez (14-1-1, 12 KOs) will face former WBC 140-lb champion Viktor Postol (31-4, 12 KOs), who has lost his last two fights against Gary Antuanne Russell and Jose Ramirez.
The 39-year-old Postol, who has wins over Lucas Matthysse and Selçuk Aydın, has been winless since 2019.
Undercard fights
- Elvis Rodriguez vs. Viktor Postol – 10-round co-feature
- Freudis Rojas vs. Diego Sanchez
- Quinton Randall vs. Willie Jones
- Justin Cardona vs. Jose Perez
- Anthony Cuba vs. Angel Rebollar
- Alex Holley vs. Michael De La Cruz
Martin ready for good showing
“I plan on showing a lot in this fight. I want to show the fans a lot in this fight. What I got in my arsenal, it’s so much that I haven’t even shown,” said Frank Martin to Fight Hub TV about his fight this
“I’m a much better fighter than I was a year ago. I’m a much better fighter than I was in my last fight. So I just keep growing as a fighter and getting better and understanding the game,” said Martin.
Frank is coming off a twelve round unanimous decision win over Michel Rivera last December in an outstanding performance against the Ali-like fighter. What made Martin’s job easier is that Rivera didn’t have much power to worry him, which is the same case for his fight this Saturday night against Harutyunyan.
“I plan on putting on a dominant performance out there come Saturday, and I feel like the performance that I put on is going to wake a lot of people up,” said Martin. “I’m right there with them. I could beat any of them. I’m running right there with them.
“Who have they fought? For somebody to say, they got some belts, but none of us ain’t fought the real dogs in the division. Ain’t none of us went head-to-head for real. So who have they fought?
“Lightweights ain’t fought no dogfights yet. Time will tell who are the real dogs when the real dogs fight each other. I feel like Tank is a dog, I feel like Shakur is a dog, and all the guys in the top five fighters are all dogs. But those two five guys haven’t fought each other,” said Martin.
The problem that Maartin is bumping up against is that most of the top lightweights don’t waant to fight anyone good unless it’s for life-changing money.
Even Gervonta Davis is guilty of that. The only ones that want to take risks are Martin & Shakur Stevenson, and they’re both avoided like the plague.
“That’s when you really get to see who is who. Let A-level fighters fight A-level fighters, not off of clout and all of that. Let the real fighters fight each other and see who is who,” said Martin.
The Ghost targeting big names
“I got a great team, and they’re trying to open doors for me to get those fights [Gervonta Davis, Devin Haney & Shakur Stevenson],” said Martin. “I feel like one of those big fights will come my way, and I’m going to be ready whenever it comes. So, I do believe I’m going to get one of those big fights.”
It’s safe to say that Martin can scratch Gevonta off his Christmas because that fight is NOT happening. When Gervonta gets out of jail, he’ll focus on fighting the same type of opposition he’s been, which means he’ll likely face Isaac Cruz next in a rematch. Fighters like Martin need not apply.
“They’re all challenges with different styles, so they’re all going to be challenges,” said Martin. “Being me, doing what I do, and staying calm and staying composed,” said Martin when asked how he overcomes the challenges
“It took me some time to feel as I feel as a fighter, but I feel like I’ve got it all. I’m confident in who I am as a fighter. I can box; I got defense. If I want to sit down and knock a guy out, I can do that. If I want to box a guy, I can do that.
“I feel like I’m well-rounded, and I got something that none of them got. I think that would be a great fight too. I think that would be a great fight if he accepted the fight,” said Martin about Isaac Cruz. “My understanding he turned me down.
‘Pitbull’ Cruz is taking tune-up-level opposition to stay in a holding pattern until Tank Davis blesses him with another fight. Until then, Pitbull will take easy fights, and that means no one named Frank Martin.
“I do good against aggressive fighters. He might mess around and run into thunder & lightning. Man down,” said Martin.
