Former champion Charles Martin is promising something “the world has never seen” when he fights Jared Anderson this weekend.
Martin was the future once. The American heavyweight was unbeaten and picked up the IBF title in 2015 when Vyacheslav Glazkov crumbled.
He knows what it’s like to rise to sudden stardom and to tumble into an equally abrupt fall from grace.
Those experiences, he believes, give him something new hope Jared Anderson does not yet have. The hard lessons of a tumultuous career, Martin says, have set him up to shock the Toledo star in his hometown when they fight, live on Sky Sports in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Jared Anderson faces Charles Martin this weekend
“It varies with people. I’ve matured so I’m in a different space at the moment. It can be hard. It can be hard at times. Life throws everyone different blows. It just matters how you take them,” he told Sky Sports.
“It was a lot of pressure when I became world champion, pulling me all different directions. I had really no time for me. It’s hectic. It’s just all about how people deal with pressure.”
He suspects Anderson could experience something similar.
Just 23-years-old and unbeaten in his 14 pro bouts, Anderson has already being touted as the next great heavyweight.
“It’s all up to him, how he takes the pressure. Because you’ve got to deal with a lot of stuff like that when you come and try to fight in your hometown,” Martin said.
“There’s really nothing I haven’t seen. I’ve been in with some of the greatest fighters today and life has knocked me down plenty of times. I’m pretty seasoned.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Frazer Clarke believes Jared Anderson will be the next big thing to burst onto the heavyweight scene and that he’ll be ‘eying up the big boys’.
Martin lost his world title to Anthony Joshua in two sudden rounds in 2016. But he is adamant that appearance did not reflect what he’s truly capable of.
“Coming from having nothing to a lot of something overnight, it was detrimental to me, me personally,” he reflected. “For me personally if I could turn back the hands of time maybe I would go to some tutoring or something for what would happen when you get these things. Because I went out of control.
“Getting a tonne of money when you’re just not ready, have no financial education. That’s the main thing that really messes a lot of people up. If you’re not ready for things and they just come at you so quickly, you have to embrace it,” Martin continued. “I made those [bad] decisions.
“Not listening, doing what I thought was best for me and it wasn’t, it was the total opposite. I had to learn. You get knocked down, you get back up. It’s life.”
Although the opportunity to fight Anderson came at short notice, Martin insisted he is now ready to take advantage.
He was in the gym, waiting for his next fight to be confirmed anyway. “I stayed the course. I stayed in the gym. I stayed with the strength training. We were going to have another date and then this presented itself. So we took it, we were sparring, we were doing everything so it’s good,” Martin said.
“I’m going to go in there and put on my performance. I’ve been working hard. Tremendously hard. I’ve had a 10-month camp, from the diet, not leaving any stones unturned.”
Charles Martin has revealed that he is targeting a fight against Tyson Fury
He is highly motivated to snatch an unexpected triumph. “That means the world to me and it’ll take me to hopefully getting me a Tyson Fury fight,” he added.
Fury, the WBC champion, is his target “because he can’t fight southpaws”.
He wants to introduce his new self to the heavyweight scene. “This is a whole different Charles Martin that nobody has ever seen. The world has never seen this Charles Martin,” he declared.
“This is the real deal, this is what you get. What you see is what you’ll get.
“Until I retire, until I hang these gloves up, I’ve fully dedicated myself to the sport.
“I’m still a young man. I feel wonderful,” he concluded. “I have the stamina, I have the strength, I have the agility. I’m slick, I’m sharp.
“I’m good.”
Watch Jared Anderson vs Charles Martin, live on Sky Sports from 1am on Sunday morning.