Martin vs. Joshua

By Scott Gilfoid: IBF heavyweight champion Charles Martin (23-0-1, 21 KOs) says he’s ready to go into the O2 Arena in London, UK and make the arena his on Saturday night when he defends his IBF strap against unproven challenger Anthony Joshua (15-0, 15 KOs).

Some would say the 26-year-old Joshua is undeserving of a world title shot at this point in his still green career, but Martin decided to give him a shot anyway despite his shaky resume of less than stellar opposition.

Martin, 29, obviously made the decision to throw a bone to Joshua due to him being a pay-per-view attraction in the UK, where his fights are now routinely televised on Sky Box Office PPV. That’s a negative for Joshua’s loyal boxing fans, because it’s likely they’re going to need to pay to see him fight on PPV for the remainder of his career if he can show that he’s capable of being a top fighter in the sport.

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By Scott Gilfoid: IBF heavyweight champion Charles Martin (23-0-1, 21 KOs) thinks boxing fans are making a major mistake in thinking that the inexperienced and unproven Anthony Joshua (15-0, 15 KOs) is a superstar already after just three years as a pro. Both Joshua and Martin are unproven fighters at this point. The winner of the contest will be the guy with the most brains.

Martin plans on exposing the green 26-year-old Joshua when the two of them face each other this Saturday night at the O2 Arena in London, England. Martin has seen Joshua’s past fights, and he’s noticed how the 6’6”, heavily muscled Joshua starts to breath heavy when he’s pushed at a fast pace, and when he has to go rounds.

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By Scott Gilfoid: IBF heavyweight champion Charles Martin (23-0-1, 21 KOs) doesn’t think too highly of challenger Anthony Joshua’s Olympic credentials from the 2012 London Olympics. In fact, Martin believes that the 6’6” British Joshua was given a gift gold medal in that Olympics due to him being the Londoner fighting in front of what appeared to be a large crowd of British fans.

Having seen the 2012 Olympics, myself, I must agree with Martin. I thought Joshua should have been eliminated from competition straightaway in his first match against Cuba’s Erislandy Savon, who appeared to get the better of Joshua throughout the fight. The scoring was just nonsensical in my view, as I saw Savon landing head-snapping shots with the white portion of his gloves repeatedly and he wasn’t consistently being given points.

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By Scott Gilfoid: Anthony Joshua (15-0, 15 KOs) doesn’t think he’s facing the toughest opponent in his fight this Saturday night against IBF heavyweight champion Charles Martin (23-0-1, 21 KOs) at the O2 Arena in London, UK. In other words, it appears that Joshua is overlooking the hard hitting Martin by dismissing him as not the best opponent of his short three-year pro career.

When you get novices like Joshua dismissing world champions as threats, then you know that there’s an ego that is out of control and begging to be put in it’s place.

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By Scott Gilfoid: IBF heavyweight champion Charles Martin (23-0, 21 KOs) doesn’t plan on leaving the outcome of his fight this Saturday night against Anthony Joshua (15-0, 15 KOs) into the hands of the judges in their fight at the O2 Arena in London, England.

Martin says he’s going to make sure the judges play no part in this fight by him going out there and knocking the 6’6” Joshua out. Martin is going into hostile territory in this fight by fighting Joshua in front of what will be a huge crowd of Brits at the O2 Arena.

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