Frank Martin wasn’t happy along with his general efficiency in opposition to Artem Harutyunyan on Saturday evening.
The undefeated light-weight contender feels he waited an excessive amount of throughout the first 9 rounds. His hesitation helped Harutyunyan make their combat very aggressive, however Martin turned extra aggressive within the tenth spherical and took full management of a 12-round bout he narrowly received unanimously on the scorecards at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.
Martin made Harutyunyan take a knee with just below a minute remaining within the twelfth spherical as a result of the awkward Armenian underdog had issue seeing out of his severely swollen left eye. Judges Tim Cheatham (115-112), Max De Luca (115-112) and Steve Weisfeld (114-113) all scored Martin the winner of their carefully contested “Showtime Championship Boxing” major occasion.
Although removed from glad with how he secured the 18th win of his skilled profession, Martin stays assured that he would cease the undefeated, undisputed champion in his division. Martin predicted throughout a post-fight interview with a bunch of reporters that Devin Haney wouldn’t final 12 rounds with him if the Detroit native received the chance to problem Haney for the IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO 135-pound championships.
“I’ll beat him,” Martin mentioned. “Knockout, in all probability in just like the eighth spherical.”
Haney hasn’t determined whether or not he’ll transfer as much as the 140-pound division or defend his 4 light-weight titles in his subsequent bout. Martin entered the ring in opposition to Harutyunyan (12-1, 7 KOs) ranked quantity two by the WBA, fifth by the WBC, sixth by the IBF and seventh by the WBO amongst light-weight contenders for Haney’s championships.
Martin (18-0, 12 KOs) doesn’t determine to be one of many opponents Haney will significantly think about for his subsequent combat.
The Oakland native has brazenly mentioned going through WBC tremendous light-weight champion Regis Prograis (29-1, 24 KOs) in his 140-pound debut. A showdown with newly topped WBO junior welterweight champ Teofimo Lopez (19-1, 13 KOs) is seemingly the highest-profile combat for the 24-year-old Haney (30-0, 15 KOs) if he relinquishes his light-weight titles in favor of transferring up.
The 28-year-old Martin, in the meantime, simply desires an opportunity to face an elite-level light-weight, whether or not it’s Haney, Gervonta Davis, Shakur Stevenson or Vasiliy Lomachenko. Stevenson (20-0, 10 KOs), a two-division champ from Newark, New Jersey, and Ukraine’s Lomachenko (17-3, 11 KOs), a three-weight world champ, are promoted by Bob Arum’s High Rank Inc., which makes it much less possible that these fights will turn out to be reliable choices for Martin, who’s aligned with Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions.
“I need all the highest guys at 135, all the highest guys all people know,” Martin mentioned. “You recognize, I don’t wanna hold name-dropping all these guys, however all the highest, you understand, high guys. I need ‘em.”
Keith Idec is a senior author/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He will be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
