By Ian S Palmer
Unbeaten Vyacheslav Glazkov of Ukraine will be taking on undefeated American heavyweight Charles Martin for the vacant IBF World Title this Saturday, January 16th. The bout is the co-feature of the Deontay Wilder vs Artur Szpilka WBC Heavyweight Championship fight and is taking place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. These are the first heavyweight title fights to be held in Brooklyn since James Jeffries stopped James Corbett in 11 rounds back in 1900. The Glazkov vs Martin contest can be seen live in the U.S. on the Showtime network. The bout is also live on You Tube and will be broadcast by Sky Sports in the UK.
The 31-year-old Glazkov hails from the Ukraine and won a bronze medal for his homeland at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. He’s got an outstanding record of 21-0-1 with 13 Kos and is hoping to keep his streak intact against Martin of St. Louis, Missouri. The 29-year-old Martin, who now fights out of Carson, California, will enter the ring with an even more impressive record of 22-0-1 with 20 Kos and it’s obvious that he has good power in his fists. These two are battling it out as the IBF title is vacant after the organization stripped England’s Tyson Fury of the belt following his recent win over Wladimir Klitschko.
The 6-foot-3 Glazkov has a 75.5-inch reach and now fights out of the U.S. He’s got good foot movement and fine boxing skills and is also as tough as nails. Martin is a big southpaw who comes into the bout at 6-foot-5 and has an 80-inch reach. He’d rather stop his opponent than go to the scorecards and if he can use the jab and land some quick combinations he should give Glazkov something to think about. Martin turned pro in 2012 and has 71 rounds under his belt since then. He has a knockout ratio of 87 per cent with the only blemish on his record being a four-round draw against Alvaro Morales in 2013.
Glazkov is a hard and accurate puncher though who likes to get inside if he has to, so Martin should try to keep him at distance with his longer reach and use some movement. Martin might want to keep the contest a boxing match instead of deciding to slug it out if possible. Martin hasn’t fought anybody of note up to now and he’s only been 10 rounds on one occasion. He’s taking a step up in class and is hoping his power will be the deciding factor in the fight. Glazkov turned pro back in 2009 and has 129 rounds to his name.
Most of his early bouts were fought in Russia and Ukraine against European opposition, but he’s fought some well-known opponents lately such as Tor Hamer, Steve Cunningham, Derric Rossy, Tomasz Adamek and Malik Scott. His draw came against Poland’s Adamek in their 12-round bout back in March of 2014. Glazkov has good power, but he’s not known as a one-punch knockout artist and has a current knockout ratio of 59 per cent.
Prediction
This is a matchup between two undefeated boxers. Martin has the edge in age, height, reach and power, but Glazkov has more experience against better foes. Martin will be relying on his power to do some damage, but if Glazkov can take his best shots then he could be in trouble. Glazkov has shown a solid chin up to now and if it holds out on Saturday he should leave the ring with the IBF belt.
