When it comes to heavyweight boxing, the names Mohammed Ali, Mike Tyson, Joe Frazier and George Foreman (not to be confused with your lean, mean, grilling machine) spring to mind as some of the leading lights in boxing’s glory years, throughout it’s different eras.
After a bit of a lull, which saw the Ukrainian brothers, Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko dominate a stagnant division for a decade or so, there is a bit of a buzz surrounding the heavyweights with a new batch of fighters all emerging simultaneously. This weekend, two of these up and coming talents meet in London for the IBF Heavyweight Championship in the form of champion, ‘Prince’ Charles Martin and London’s own Olympic gold medallist, Anthony Joshua.
Hometown hero Anthony Joshua, (15-0) with all 15 wins coming by way of knockout, will step into his first world championship bout in London’s O2 Arena on Saturday night. A capacity crowd will be hoping ‘AJ’ can overcome the champion, which would set-up a hotly-anticipated, British super-fight against rival Tyson Fury, in what would arguably be the biggest contest on these shores in a good few years.
The 26-year old, goes into Saturday in confident mood, after stopping Jamaican-born Dilian Whyte in 7. Whyte was the first fighter to take Joshua beyond the 3rd round in his career, and exposed a number of previously unseen weakness in the #8 ranked fighter’s game. Yet still, the challenger remains confident of taking the title from the American and is determined to put on a show in front of his home crow. He stated that he will ‘Light him up’, and ‘finish him in 6 rounds’, on Sky Sports’ preview show, Martin v Joshua: The Gloves are Off.
Champion, Martin, (24-0-1), has finished 21 of his previous 24 bouts and was victorious in his latest encounter against Vyacheslav Glazkov to win the vacant IBF belt, in somewhat controversial fashion. The Ukrainian was injured early in the fight and was unable to continue resulting in a 3rd round TKO stoppage in favour of the American. Martin’s legitimacy as champion has often been scrutinized due to the both the belt being vacant and the nature of his win. Fellow unbeaten, rising star and WBC Heavyweight Champion, Deonte Wilder (36 -0) chipped in stating, ‘We’ll see if Martin is a worthy champion and if he will continue his reign as champ come Saturday”, in a recent interview with Sky Sports News.
Martin too remains upbeat about leaving London as champion ahead of his first title defense. The 29-year old southpaw dismissed the chances of the Londoner stating on Boxing News Online, ‘I’m the champ, I’m gonna keep being the champ, so I’m gonna knock him out, period’.
The IBF strap had previously been held by yet another undefeated heavyweight star in Tyson Fury. Fury who won the title from Klitschko earlier this year, was unable to fulfil contractual obligations to compete in a madatory contest with the then #1 contender, Glazgov. Instead, a rematch with Klitschko was set-up resulting in Fury being stripped of the title. You still with us?
International bragging rights will also be up for grabs come Saturday, as Britain and USA are pretty evenly matched in terms of number of World Champions. A win for Joshua would make him the 12th British champion at present, placing him alongside the of Kell Brook, James Degale and Lee Selby, whilst a Martin victory would even things up for the Americans at 11 apiece.
Either way on Sunday, it is a ‘someone’s 0 has gotta go’ kind of fight, making this contest that much more intense. Given the build-up and sub-plots surrounding the fight, it could be the sparks that ignites a series of top meetings between the big players in the heavyweight division.
So, who you got?