Sometimes I might just be thinking about my boxing and how I can get better. With 1:45 remaining in the round Joshua came straight on walking down the back pedaling Martin, seven seconds later he drilled him with another right hand, sending him to the canvass for a second time in an nearly carbon copy of the first knock down.
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“I want to maintain now”.
“I’m only one-quarter of the way there”, said Joshua immediately following his triumph. “Ideally we both win our fights and square off for probably the biggest ever British heavyweight clash”.
Joshua, coming into the fight with 15 KOs in 15 fights, was seen as the favourite against the more experienced Martin, who secured the world heavyweight title in January by defeating Vyacheslav Glazkov, who ended the fight in the third round due to injury. If I stood on the outside and went jab for jab, he’s got longer arms than me. “Every heavyweight has got power but it’s about speed and precision”. “I’m not going to get too carried away because we still have work to do”.
Joshua becomes the sixth British fighter to win a world heavyweight title.
“Let’s go after these other guys with a couple of belts and get that household respect in the game. I’m going to need to fight a serious opponent so keep your eyes peeled for who it might be if it is a Wembley fight”.
“I think Tyson Fury is our pick before that, because he’s got the belts and I think unification fights have to be a priority”.
Martin clambered to his feet, only to be floored again by that ferocious right, and his defiant smile could not disguise his unsteady legs and the referee signaled the start of Joshua’s reign as champion.
The suspicion remains that without further time to develop he will struggle when matched with one of the division’s rangier, smarter or more mobile fighters, and as the new champion time is one of the few things which he will be short of. In the end, Anthony Joshua fulfilled his promise and has captured a World Heavyweight title.
Martin’s finest chance came in exposing the 26-year-old Joshua’s inexperience and the fact he was yet to fight a southpaw throughout his professional career.
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In bonus coverage on SHOWTIME BOXING INTERNATIONAL, Lee Selby survived a second round knockdown to defend his IBF Featherweight World Championship against challenger Eric Hunter in a unanimous decision victory scored 115-111, 116-110, 116-110.
