By Ian S Palmer
Former IBF Heavyweight Champion Charles Martin will be taking on fellow American Gerald Washington in an IBF eliminator this Saturday, February 22nd. The 12-round bout from Las Vegas will be shown on Fox and ESPN pay-per-view as part of the undercard to the Deontay Wilder vs Tyson Fury rematch. Those in the UK can catch it on BT Sports Box Office. Martin last fought in July when he stopped Daniel Martz in seven rounds while Washington’s last contest was an eighth-round KO over Robert Helenius in July.
The 33-year-old Martin of St. Louis enters the contest with a mark of 27-2-1 with 24 Kos. The southpaw won the vacant IBF title against Vyacheslav Glazkov in January, 2016 when Glazkov suffered a knee injury in the third round. The title was vacant after it was stripped from Tyson Fury for failing to defend his crown against Glazkov. However, Martin was stopped in the second round by Anthony Joshua in his first defence of the belt just three months later.
Martin has good size at 6-feet-5-inches and an 80-inch reach. He’d rather stop his opponent than go to the scorecards though and if he can use the jab and land some quick combinations he should give Washington something to think about. He turned pro in 2012 and has just 101 rounds under his belt since then. He has an impressive knockout ratio of 80 per cent with the only other blemish on his record being a 10-round unanimous decision toss at the hands of Adam Kownacki in September, 2018.
He also fought to a four-round draw with Alvaro Morales back in 2013. Martin has struggled when stepping up in class but has wins against boxers such as Vincent Thompson, Joey Dawejko, Glendy Hernandez, Tyyab Beale, Alexander Flores, Raphael Zumbano, Damon McCreary, Tom Dallas, Byron Polley and Michael Marrone. Martin won the vacant WBO NABO Heavyweight title with his fourth-round stoppage of Flores and defended it four times.
The 37-year-old Washington of San Jose, California climbs into the ring with a 20-3-1 record with 13 Kos. He’s been stopped in all three of his losses against WBC champ Deontay Wilder in five rounds in 2017 as well as after eight rounds against Jarrell Miller in his next fight five months later. He was also stopped in the second stanza by Adam Kownacki in January, 2019. All three of his defeats have come in his last three outings. His lone draw was a 10-round tilt with Amir Mansour. Washington’s a former football player and member of the U.S. Navy and didn’t turn pro until he was 30 years old.
Washington is slightly the bigger boxer here as he’s 6-feet-6-inches tall and has a wingspan of 82 inches, giving him an inch edge in height and two-inch advantage in reach on Martin. Washington’s not a knockout artist but has respectable power with a current knockout ratio of 54.2 per cent. However he has just three stoppages in his last 10 fights since 2014. He’s fought 111 rounds since turning pro in 2012 and has beaten some recognizable heavyweights such as Ray Austin, Eddie Chambers, Jason Gavern, Nagy Aguilera, Sherman Williams and Travis Walker.
Prediction…
Washington needs to land something hard and heavy before Martin does to gain some confidence and earn some respect. He needs to keep Martin on the back foot but he’s not a naturally aggressive boxer. Washington has the better boxing skills here but the weaker chin. If Martin can get in range and land something heavy then Washington could be in trouble. I’ll go with Martin here since he’s four years younger and has more power and a better chin.
