By Dan Ambrose: Shakur Stevenson will face the dangerous Frank Martin in a fight for the vacant WBC lightweight title in November or December on ESPN. The date still hasn’t been decided, but it’ll be either November 16th or December 9th.
Stevenson will attempt to nullify Martin’s huge power by focusing on his defense because he knows he can’t stand in front of him like he did his last opponent Shuichiro Yoshino.
It will take a special performance from Martin to win, as he doesn’t possess the technical skills to win a decision against Shakur. Martin must get close enough to land his power and not allow Stevenson to keep it on the outside.
Shakur (20-0, 10 KOs) is fighting in his third weight class since turning professional in 2017, and he’s not faced a killer like ‘The Ghost’ Martin (18-0, 12 KOs), who has skills, power and a seek & destroy style.
Frank will be loading up with every shot, knowing that his best chance of winning is to reduce the defensive-minded Shakur to rubble.
Martin is one of those types of fighters who can stop his opponents at any point in the fight, and he’ll be like a live grenade, ready to destroy Shakur if can land his huge shots.
Keys to Martin winning:
- Body shots
- Fast pace
- Don’t allow Shakur to hit & run
- Jabs
- Attack nonstop
“Shakur might be a little bit more of a handful. I’m not saying that Frank don’t got it. I’m not saying that, no,” said Zab Judah to MillCity Boxing about him leaning towards Shakur Stevenson over Frank Martin.
Martin had problems figuring out the highly skilled Artem Harutyunyan in his last fight last July.
In the latter rounds, Martin went after Harutyunyan, punching holes through him with his body shots, breaking him down. If Martin fights like that against Shakur, he can win and possibly knock him out.
“He hasn’t shown the ability that Shakur has shown. I’m picking Shakur. I just know the road that Shakur Stevenson is on right now. I know the mission. He’s coming out of a stable with big shoes.
“If you know Shakur, you’ll know that his style is to stop s**t,” said Zab about his belief that Shakur will knock out Martin. “His style is to destroy. Shakur likes to hurt s**t, break stuff. That’s Shakur.”
Judah might not have been following Shakur’s career in the pro ranks because he’s not a big puncher by any means. With a KO percentage of 50%, Shakur is a safety-first boxer who thinks defense first and offense second.
“I’m not saying nothing is wrong with Frank,” said Zab. “Frank is a good guy, but in this fight, I think Shakur might be a little too much for him. Frank Martin does possess knockout power. He does know how to knock guys out. So Shakur will need to be on high alert for the knockout power.
“Shakur has to watch out for his power because he does have explosive power that can end s**t early,” said Zab about Frank Martin.
