Can Anthony Joshua beat world heavyweight champion Charles Martin?
This weekend will see our very own Olympic gold medal hero, Anthony Joshua MBE (15-0) take on IBF World heavyweight champion, Charles Martin (23-0-1) at The O2 in London, live on Sky Sports Box Office.
If the Brit is successful then he could become the UK’s 12th world titleholder in just his 16th professional contest! The unbeaten Californian, nicknamed Prince Charles, travels to England to make the first defence of the title that he landed in Brooklyn in January against Vyacheslav Glazkov, when he pulled out with a knee injury in the opening rounds.
The 16,000 capacity arena along the Greenwich Peninsula has quickly become AJ’s boxing fortress, selling out the tickets in under two minutes. Five of his previous contests have taken place in the South London venue, including his last outing where he added the British title to his Commonwealth strap against bitter rival Dillian Whyte – his seventh round stoppage being the 15th in a row, keeping his KO ratio at an impressive 100 per cent.
BBN asked the boxing world on their thoughts for this Saturday’s world title fight where someone’s ‘0’ has got to go:
Ricky Hatton Former Two-weight World Champion “I think Joshua. It will be a close fight and Joshua will win on points. Martin is very good, he likes to take the opponents the distance but I see Anthony winning on points in a close fight.”
Miles ShinkwinSouthern Area Light-heavyweight Champion “It's a tough fight to call. Joshua has never been past seven rounds and looked a little shaky last time. However, I see him being too big and strong for Martin who can cause Joshua problems.”
Tommy Langford WBO Inter-Continental & Commonwealth Middleweight Champion “I think it's a huge opportunity for Joshua and it's great to see all of the UK, in particular the boxing fraternity, getting right behind him. I haven't seen a great deal of Martin but a big punching southpaw is always going to pose its problems, not to mention the fact he's more experienced as a professional and is the champion going in, despite being in Joshua's back yard. Joshua, however, will have experienced all shapes and sizes through his amateur career and so far has answered all the questions thrown at him jumping through the levels (albeit lower than this) as a pro. I find it hard to make a solid prediction on KO or points but I'll go with a Joshua win but it's not going to be all one way traffic!”
Nick Webb Unbeaten Heavyweight "I know he's unbeaten but he hasn't fought no one yet. I ain't seen much of him, to be honest. What I have seen, when he throws in combinations he looks like he's very open to the counter. Obviously, he's got good left straight being a southpaw but doesn’t throw enough to bother Joshua. His defence isn’t good enough to be able to go the distance with Joshua, he’ll get nailed with one and it’ll be all over. AJ will throw too many shots and be too strong for him – third round KO.”
Tey Lynn-Jones Unbeaten Middleweight “I'm going for Joshua via late KO. However, it's Joshua's first southpaw and it's the heavyweight division, so anything can happen!”
Mark TibbsProfessional Boxing Trainer “AJ can only lose if he gets clipped in the later rounds. I’m backing our Brit to boss him and KO Martin first.”
Simon CrawfordSporting Life “Anthony Joshua was given a wake-up call by Dillian Whyte in his last fight, but if he has learned the lessons from that performance then I see him becoming world champion in only his 16th pro outing. Charles Martin has a decent record and is an awkward southpaw, but his defence is lacking and Joshua will exploit that and stop him around the halfway mark.”
Steve WoodVIP Promotions “Joshua – round two KO. Too much money invested in this fight to get it wrong.”
Ben Day Former Southern Area Super-lightweight Champion “I've a feeling that Charles Martin could cause an upset, he's strong, southpaw and awkward at that. Having said that, Eddie Hearn loves an IBF title!”
Matt Marsh Former British Super-bantamweight Champion “I think AJ will win middle or early rounds for me. Once Martin feels AJ's power, it won't take long until Joshua will stop him.”
Tim RicksonTR Sports “First of all, I think that the IBF were wrong to strip Tyson Fury of the belt, the subsequent world title fight between Martin and Glazkov was an embarrassment, and lastly that Charles Martin is not a very worthy or credible world champion. Martin doesn’t impress me and his lack of defence will be his undoing in this fight. Joshua is too explosive for anyone to go in against him with hands held low. To predict an early KO to Anthony Joshua would be too easy and probably a bit of a kop out, so I’ll put a number on it – I believe it will take AJ just three rounds to blast Prince Charles out of there.”
Paul Hilz British Challenge Belt Contender “I've only seen a few fights of AJ's opponent and they've ended in him knocking them out! Big men hit hard! Good match-up and I do think that AJ needs to step it up and tis is perfect because it's fot a world title and I think AJ will win and rip this title away from him in any way possible.”
Tim Redigolo British Boxing News Contributor “I think Anthony Joshua has the ability to overcome the test of Charles Martin inside the 12 rounds. It will be an intriguing contest should it move towards a distance fight as there are questions remaining over whether Joshua has the stamina to last.”
Kazy Kindon Professional Boxing Trainer “Anthony Joshua late rounds.”
Fight Schedule
- Charles Martin VS Anthony Joshua12 x 3 mins IBF Heavyweight World Championship
- Lee Selby VS Eric Hunter 12 x 3 mins IBF Featherweight World Championship
- George Groves VS David Brophy 12 x 3 mins WBA International Super-Middleweight Championship
- Jamie McDonnell VS Fernando Vargas 12 x 3 mins WBA Bantamweight World Championship
- Matthew Macklin VS Brian Rose12 x 3 mins IBF Inter-Continental Middleweight Championship
- Ohara Davies VS Andy Keates 10 x 3 mins vacant English Lightweight Championship
- Ted Cheeseman VS Ian Henry 4 x 3 mins Welterweight contest
- Conor Benn VS Luke Keleher 4 x 3 mins Super-Lightweight contest
- Kamil Lasczyk Featherweight contest
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