Charles Martin vs. Anthony Joshua

Charles Martin vs. Anthony Joshua was a professional boxing match contested between the undefeated and newly crowned IBF heavyweight champion Charles Martin, and undefeated Olympic gold medalist Anthony Joshua. The bout took place on 9 April 2016 at The O2 Arena, London. Joshua defeated Martin via second-round knockout (KO) to claim the IBF heavyweight title.

Charles Martin vs. Anthony Joshua

Date	9 April 2016
Venue	The O2 Arena, London, England
Title(s) on the line	IBF heavyweight title
Tale of the tape
Boxer Charles Martin Anthony Joshua Nickname "Prince Charles" "AJ" Hometown St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. Watford, England Pre-fight record 23–0–1 (21 KOs) 15–0 (15 KOs) Height 6 ft 5 in (196 cm) 6 ft 6 in (198 cm) Weight 245 lb (111 kg) 244 lb (111 kg) Style Southpaw Orthodox Recognition IBF heavyweight champion IBF #4 ranked contender
Result
Joshua defeated Martin in the 2nd round by KO

Background

On 12 December 2015, Anthony Joshua fought fellow British contender and rival Dillian Whyte in a grudge match for Joshua's WBC International, and Commonwealth titles with the vacant British title also on the line. The bout took place at The O2 Arena in London, with Joshua winning via seventh-round technical knockout (TKO).[1]

Following the IBF's decision to strip newly crowned unified champion Tyson Fury of their version of the heavyweight championship for failing to agree terms for a fight with mandatory challenger Vyacheslav Glazkov, due to contractual obligations to face former unified champion Wladimir Klitschko in a rematch,[2] the IBF ordered a fight between Glazkov and #2 ranked contender Charles Martin.[3] The bout took place on 16 January 2016 at the Barclays Center, New York, with Martin winning via third-round TKO after Glazkov suffered a knee injury and was unable to continue.[4] One month after Martin's win over Glazkov, it was announced that Martin would make a voluntary defence of his newly acquired title against Joshua—who was the IBF's #4 ranked contender—with the bout scheduled to take place on 9 April at The O2 Arena in London. It was reported that Martin would earn a career high purse of £3.46m with potential total earnings in excess of £6m after PPV sales.[5]

The fight

Round one saw Martin on the back foot, only throwing a handful of punches and landing even less. Joshua applied minimal pressure, throwing probing jabs to the head and body and the occasional right hand. In the final 30 seconds, Joshua grazed Martin with a straight right hand which appeared to cause the champion to momentarily stumble. However, the instant replay between rounds showed Martin had tripped over one of the ringside advertisements. Martin began standing his ground in the first minute of round two, throwing more punches in that minute than the previous three. One minute into the round, Joshua slipped a right hand jab from southpaw Martin and landed a solid counter straight right to Martin's chin, dropping the champion to the canvas. Five seconds after Martin rose to his feet, he threw another jab which Joshua once again slipped and landed the same counter straight right hand to floor the champion for the second time. Martin was still down on one knee as referee Jean-Pierre Van Imschoot reached the count of nine. Martin quickly rose up to his feet as Van Imschoot waved off the fight at 1 minute and 32 seconds, giving Joshua a second-round knockout win to secure the IBF heavyweight title.[6]

Aftermath

With Joshua's win, he became the first British super-heavyweight Olympic champion to win a professional heavyweight world title; the fourth boxer in history to win a professional heavyweight world title as the reigning Olympic champion;[6] and the fifth-fastest to win a heavyweight world title at two years and six months.[7] Martin also made the heavyweight history books by having the second-shortest reign as a heavyweight world champion at just 85 days.[8]

Fight card

Weight Class	Weight		vs.		Method	Round	Time	Notes
Heavyweight		Anthony Joshua	def.	Charles Martin (c)	KO	2/12	1:32	^Note 1
Featherweight		Lee Selby (c)	def.	Eric Hunter	UD	12		^Note 2
Super-middleweight		George Groves	def.	David Brophy	KO	4/12	0:47	^Note 3
Bantamweight		Jamie McDonnell (c)	vs.	Fernando Vargas Parra	TKO	9/12	2:39	^Note 4
Middleweight		Matthew Macklin	def.	Brian Rose	MD	12		^Note 5
Lightweight		Ohara Davies	def.	Andy Keates	KO	4/10	0:31	^Note 6
Light-welterweight		Ted Cheeseman	def.	Mario Petrov	TKO	4/6
Light-welterweight		Conor Benn	def.	Ivaylo Boyanov	TKO	1/4	2:07
Featherweight		Kamil Łaszczyk	def.	Ignac Kassai	PTS	6

^Note 1 For IBF heavyweight title
^Note 2 For IBF featherweight title
^Note 3 For vacant WBA International super-middleweight title
^Note 4 For WBA bantamweight title
^Note 5 For IBF Inter-Continental middleweight title
^Note 6 For vacant English lightweight title

References

1. "Anthony Joshua beats Dillian Whyte for British heavyweight title". BBC Sport. 13 December 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
2. "Tyson Fury: World heavyweight champion stripped of IBF title". BBC Sport. 8 December 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
3. "Fury stripped of IBF belt for declining Glazkov". ESPN.com. 8 December 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
4. "Martin stops Glazkov, wins vacant heavyweight title". ESPN.com. 17 January 2016. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
5. Lewis, Ron (16 February 2016). "Big pay day tempted Charles Martin to risk title against Anthony Joshua". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
6. "Anthony Joshua beats Charles Martin to become world heavyweight champion". BBC Sport. 10 April 2016. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
7. "Anthony Joshua has become the fifth-fastest man to win a heavyweight world title". Sky Sports. 11 April 2016. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
8. Abramson, Mitch (21 April 2016). "Deontay Wilder accuses Charles Martin of lying down against Joshua". The Ring. Retrieved 3 February 2020.