By Mark Eisner: Unbeaten Frank Martin (18-0, 12 KOs) was forced to rally to defeat previously unbeaten Artem Harutyunyan (12-1, 7 KOs) by a close 12 round unanimous decision in a WBC lightweight title eliminator on Saturday night at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Chelsea Ballroom, Las Vegas.
The 2016 Olympic bronze medalist Harutyunyan took a knee in the twelfth round while being pressured by Martin. Harutyunyan said after the fight that he’d taken a knee because of his injured left eye.
In the first half of the fight, Harutyunyan outboxed Martin and was in full control. The scores were 115-112, 115-112, and 114-113.
Boxing News 24 will be giving live updates below of tonight’s action.
- Unbeaten welterweight prospect Freudis Rojas (11-0, 11 KOs) looked impressive tonight, destroying the overmatched Diego Sanchez (19-3, 16 KOs) in a seventh round stoppage. The bout was stopped during the seventh at a request from Sanchez’s trainer. The official time of the stoppage was at :58.
Frank Martin fights tonight against Artem Harutyunyan in a twelve-round WBC lightweight title eliminator on Showtime. The event starts at 10:00 p.m. ET.
On the undercard is light welterweight Elvis Rodriguez (14-1-1, 12 KOs) fighting Viktor Postol (31-4, 12 KOs) in the chief support, and Freudis Rojas (10-0, 10 KO) battling Diego Sanchez (19-2, 16 KO) in the first fight on Showtime’s televised portion of the card.
A win for Martin (17-0, 12 KOs) over Harutyunyan (12-0, 7 KOs) won’t necessarily get him a title shot against four-belt champion Devin Haney because there’s already a WBC mandatory waiting.
Martin vs. Harutyunyan prediction
#5 WBC Frank Martin should breeze through his headliner bout against #8 Artem Harutyunyan because this guy can’t punch, and he doesn’t have a style that is well-suited to the professional game.
This writer’s prediction is a fifth round knockout win for the 28-year-old Martin, and it’ll be a huge shock if it goes beyond that point.
It’s a double-edged sword for Martin in terms of whether he gains from winning spectacularly tonight. In an ideal world, if Martin destroys Harutyunyan, he should get a big name in his next bout, but that’s not likely to be the case.
While Martin will receive more praise & attention from boxing fans, the top guys like Gervonta Davis & Devin Haney will avoid him even more than they’re already doing now.
The time of the fight tonight between Martin and Harutyunyan will likely be past 11 pm. ET, as there are two bouts before their main event clash.
“Both. It’s going to help & hurt,” said Frank Martin to K.O. Artist Sports when asked if an impressive win tonight over Harutyunyan will help or hurt his chance of getting a big fight against a top name in the future.
“I’m in one of those positions where no matter what I do, there’s going to be some love, and then it’s going to be a whole lot of criticism at the same time. If I put on a great performance, it’s still going to be, ‘Who was the guy?’ It’s always going to be something. That’s what’s up with the sport.
“We’ve been in the gym, locked in rocking. We’ve been in the gym. It’s been a good atmosphere. Everyone has been on point and tapped in.
“We had a sit-down with Derrick and told him what I wanted to achieve. He started training me. He told me I had to put in the work and stuff like that.
“We don’t get no pats on the back. We’re in there to do what we’re supposed to do,” Martin said about his training camps with coach Derrick James. “We don’t need too much gratitude for doing what you’re supposed to do.”