Brand new IBF Heavyweight Champion “Prince” Charles Martin (23-0-1, 21 KOs) should be on cloud nine. In just his seventh year of boxing and slightly over third as a professional, Martin already finds himself the sixth southpaw to have ever won a heavyweight championship after scoring a TKO 3 over Ukrainian top contender Vyacheslav Glazkov last Saturday night, January 16, at the Barclay’s Center in New York.
Winning any world title is an amazing accomplishment that most never reach in decades of boxing. Add in that Martin took out the 2008 Olympic Super Heavyweight bronze medalist to become the second current American heavyweight champion in a suddenly rejuvenated division.
“It feels good,” admits Martin. “I wanted to do it fast. I couldn’t wait,” he explains of his quick ascension. “Some things they say take time but when you’re really determined to do something, you’ll do it as soon as possible.”
With his place already assured in the boxing history books and several lucrative possible showdowns on the near horizon, why isn’t Martin the happiest man on the planet?
It was the way he won.
“I have an empty feeling right now,” said the 29-year-old champion. “I was in front of so many people and it was my time to shine on Showtime and show the world my skills. I felt that he had no power and said to myself that he would be easy work. I knew I was going to have a great night. I was going to KO him and then everyone would love me… but it didn’t happen like that.”
Glazkov stopped fighting in round three due to torn ACL in his knee and Martin was declared the winner of the then-vacant title by way of injury-induced TKO.
“I wanted to win the belt my way,” continued the disappointed Martin. “He would have got knocked out eventually. It was coming to him. I never even got to use my uppercut on him, but it’s all good.”
Humble and extremely likeable, Martin remained polite, post-fight and expressed his condolences to the disappointed Glazkov. However, since that night, Glazkov has gone on to say he had “figured Martin out” and that the championship would have certainly been his had he not been injured.
“Oh my goodness, I’m trying to stay humble about the situation, but that’s so crazy what he said,” said Martin. “If he really thinks that, he’s tripping. Things were about to get a lot worse for him. I promise you, once he started slowing down, my combinations would have started to come out. I was throwing the one/two because he was getting out of the way pretty good in the first few rounds. I was just getting started. I thought I would box him for a while and then start going at him and whip his butt. I promise you I could have. That injury saved him. It broke my heart that I didn’t get to do what I wanted. How does that happen? I was having fun.”
Martin says his team and friends and relatives have been good to remind him the abbreviated ending was out of his control. He also says he’ll take a quick vacation and then get right back to work.
So what comes next for the new American heavyweight champion?
“Tyson Fury or Deontay Wilder. I want them both. I want all the best. That’s the next move. My time to shine will come. I’m a world champion now and I can say that the belt is in the right hands. I’m not going to sit around. I want to fight.”
Martin also says that is Britain’s world champ, Tyson Fury, ever points his taunting antics at him, he won’t mind.
“It’s good for boxing for him to do that kind of stuff. I like that. It’s all business. At the end of the day he has no crazy beef with anybody. Nobody choked anybody’s mother. It’s just boxing. You got to get attention somehow. He makes people want to see a fight. We’re in the entertainment and hurt business. It’s definitely a real fight in the ring though. It’s a non-personal thing that very gets personal once they step in the ring with me. That’s two guys’ livelihood in there. That’s our income for our families.”