Charles Martin (boxer)

Amateur career

Martin had 63 fights as an amateur, having started boxing at the age of 22. In 2012 he won the National PAL Championships.

Early career

Martin turned professional on October 27, 2012. He made his TV debut on ESPN July 19, 2013, when he beat Aaron Kinch by a 4th round TKO. On September 21, he beat then undefeated Vincent Thompson (13-0). The fight was in Thompson's homestate Washington and Martin got a unanimous decision. He dropped Thompson in the first round, for the first time in his career. On October 25, Martin defeated Haitian Dieuly Aristilde, by TKO in round one. On November 14, Martin became the first man to ever stop Joey Dawejko. Martin dropped Dawejko in the 4th round. Dawejko's corner asked to get the fight stopped between the 4th and 5th round. Charles Martin fought 11 times in 2013. On December 21 he won against undefeated Cuban heavyweight Glendy Hernandez (10-0).

Career from 2014–2015

On April 16, 2014 Martin won the vacant WBO NABO heavyweight title by beating former undefeated boxer Alexander Flores by KO in the 4th round. Martin was in a non-title fight a month later against 38 year old journeyman Rafael Pedro at the Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica, California. In an overmatched fight, Martin floored Pedro twice in round one winning the bout via knockout. In July 2014, Martin successfully defended the title for the first time at BB King Blues Club & Grill in New York against 37 year old veteran Kertson Manswell. Manswell hadn't fought in seven months, since his loss to Wendell Jorkhu. Martin entered the bout with a seven fight knockout streak. Martin won via the third knockdown rule, knocking Manswell down three times in round 3, forcing the stoppage.

After a six month gap, Martin returned to fight Damon McCreary (15-3, 11 KOs) in a non title 6 round bout. Martin won after 2 minutes into the first round via TKO. Martin made a defence of the title on February 28, 2015 against former Brazilian heavyweight champion Raphael Zumbano Love (35-9-1, 28 KOs) at the Celebrity Theater in Phoenix, Arizona. Martin won via TKO in the 10th and final round with a minute remaining. Martin's next defence came on April 25, on the undercard of Klitschko-Jennings at the Madison Square Garden in New York against British boxer Tom Dallas.

The fight last one round as Dallas was knocked out by a straight left hand to the head from Martin. Martin made his fourth and final defence of his WBO-NABO title on September 25 at the Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama against Mexican WBO Latino heavyweight champion Vicente Sandez (15-4, 10 KOs) in a scheduled 10 round fight. By the third round, Martin was ahead on all scorecards (20-17, 3 times), knocking Sandez down in round 2. The fight was stopped by referee Flynn Gerald, 35 seconds into round 3 following another knockdown.

Martin vs. Glazkov

Following Tyson Fury's win against Wladimir Klitschko in November 2015 in becoming the new unified heavyweight champion, the IBF ordered Fury to make a mandatory defence against Vyacheslav Glazkov. However, Fury opted to take the rematch against Klitschko, thus being stripped of the IBF title in the process. The IBF then ordered Glazkov to fight Martin for a vacant world title on January 16 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Glaskov's purse for the fight was $804,700, whilst Martin had a purse of $433,300.

Martin claimed the vacant title by stopping Glazkov in the third round, due to injury. By round 3, the scorecards were (19-19,18-20, 20-18). Glazkov slipped to the canvas when his feet got tangled with Martin. Referee Earl Brown ruled it a slip, but Glazkov appeared to hurt his right knee following the fall. When the fight resumed, Glazkov threw a punch but went down again without being hit. He dropped to the canvas again, clearly in pain. The fight was stopped, with the ringside doctor diagnosing him with a torn right ACL. According to CompuBox, Martin landed 26 of 105 punches (25 percent), and Glazkov connected on 19 of 64 blows (30 percent).

Martin vs. Joshua

Martin chose to make the first defence of his title against rising British star and 2012 Olympic gold medalist Anthony Joshua at The O2 Arena in London on 9 April 2016. It was reported that Martin would bank £6 million ($8.5 m) for the defense against Joshua.

Joshua set the pace in the first round and kept the southpaw Martin at bay before sending him to the canvas with a straight right hand in the second round. Martin got to his feet only to be knocked down for a second time by a similar punch just moments later. This time Martin failed to beat the count after taking too long to get up, and the referee waved the fight off, with Joshua winning his first world title. Martin was heavily criticized for his performance, and apparent lack of ambition to win the fight. Observers accused him of quitting early, feeling that he could have got up quicker and fought on. Martin later placed the blame on the pre-fight distractions, claiming that he was 'mentally not there'. At just 85 days, Martin's reign as IBF heavyweight champion was the second shortest in professional boxing history, with only Tony Tucker's 1987 reign being shorter.

Comeback in 2017

On April 17, 2017 Martin announced that he would make a return on April 25 in a non-televised fight against 37 year old journeyman Byron Polley (30-20-1, 13 KOs, 3 NC) at the Fitzgeralds Casino & Hotel in Tunica, Mississippi in a scheduled 10-round bout. Martin won the fight via second round TKO. In the post fight, he said, “I’m just back to finish what I started ... Now I’m back and I’m ready to be undisputed, like my plans were originally, undisputed champ.” Polley was dropped two times in the second before the fight was stopped 51 seconds into the round.

Martin continued his comeback trail on July 18 at the Rapides Coliseum in Alexandria, Louisiana against 31 year old journeyman Michael Marrone (21-7, 15 KOs). Martin won the bout in the first round via knockout. A first knockdown occurred after Martin landed a left hook, then a left shot to the body floored Marrone again. Marrone was then counted out by referee Kenny Saintes.

Personal life

Martin was born in St. Louis, before moving to Colorado Springs and Phoenix after the age of 12. Martin started doing construction work from the age of 14 and had his first son at a young age. He has four children.

Outside of boxing

It was reported by Sky Sports that Martin was shot in the early hours of August 5, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. Martin was allegedly involved in an altercation with two men that resulted in him having a gunshot wound to his forearm, as he was driving away. He underwent surgery for the wound. Martin checked out of hospital following surgery on August 10.