Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn tonight confirmed that his fighter Anthony Joshua (15-0 15 KO’s) will take on recently crowned IBF heavyweight champion Charles Martin at the O2 Arena in London, this fight will prove to be Joshua biggest test to date.
Some might argue that this fight might come too soon for the Olympian, however we will find out on April 9th whether Joshua is the real deal or not.
Eddie Hearn has managed Anthony Joshua’s rise in the heavyweight division since turning pro after picking up gold at the London Olympics, having dispatched the likes of Kevin Johnson, Gary Cornish and Dillion Whyte in recent fights.
Joshua will need to up his game if he’s in with a chance to dethrone Charles Martin and become the new IBF heavyweight champion.
Charles Martin (23-0-1 21 KO’s) beat Vyacheslav Glazkov on January 16, 2016 for the vacant IBF world heavyweight championship title after Glazkov retired in third round with a knee injury, as a result Martin was crowned the new IBF champion.
Anthony Joshua confirmed on Twitter that he was facing Martin:
Any challenge presented I take seriously! Fighting Charles Martin for the IBF World Heavyweight title! ? #AJBoxing pic.twitter.com/zHrXzoLXeN
— Anthony Joshua (@anthonyfjoshua) February 14, 2016
Eddie Hearn then followed up with:
Proud to announce April 9 at @theo2@anthonyfjoshua will challenge Charles Martin for the IBF Heavyweight Championship of the World?????? RT
— Eddie Hearn (@EddieHearn) February 14, 2016
Charles Martin selected Joshua for his first defence of his IBF title, so he must fancy his chances against the Briton and this will be the American’s first fight outside the US.
This fight will be interesting, both fighters are untested at world level and both guys can bang!
Joshua’s last outing was at he O2 where he stopped bitter-rival Dillian Whyte, it wasn’t an easy night for Joshua after we witnessed Joshua getting in trouble for the first time when he started to trade, he had to recover from being wobbled in the second round to overcome Whyte and claim the British title.
Joshua speaking about his opponent said:
“Charles Martin is a great fighter and a hungry competitor so I am going to have to produce the performance of my career to claim that belt”.
Joshua is right, he will need to produce best performance of his life, he will need to train harder than he’s ever done and be prepared to go that extra mile. This is heavyweight championship boxing, they don’t hand this title out over the counter.
Charles Martin feels he has the tools to take out Joshua and he will be coming over to London fully prepared to go to war, the American is confident of getting the job done.
He added:
“I told my team I wanted the best challenger possible for my first defence and Anthony Joshua’s name kept coming up. I’m coming to the UK to make a statement that I am the best heavyweight in the world and no-one is taking my title”.
This is Anthony Joshua big chance, I doubt he will let his opportunity slip away and lose his first fight in the pro ranks.
As long as we don’t see the Londoner start trading a tactic which saw him get caught and wobbled quite bad when from Dillian Whyte.
If Joshua sticks to the game-plan, he has the power to dispatch of Martin.