Frank Martin’s back was against the wall last Saturday night against Artem Harutyunyan in their lightweight clash at The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.
Harutyunyan (12-1, 7 KOs) led 58-56 on all the judges’ scorecards after six rounds, but Martin, whose trainer Derrick James implored him to turn it up, took over in the championship rounds and dropped Harutyunyan in the 12th to win by unanimous decision.
Martin(18-0, 12 KOs) won the last four rounds all three judges’ scorecards.
The 28-year-old was not at his best, which he acknowledged after the win but give him credit for fighting hard late to capture the victory.
Photo: Ryan Hafey/PBCHis trainer Derrick James implored Martin to turn it up, and that’s precisely what he did.
“I just knew I wasn’t active enough as I normally am,” Martin said. “I just think my reaction time just wasn’t on point tonight. He definitely was a tough opponent. I wouldn’t say that it was too difficult; it was just my reaction time wasn’t working like it normally does for me. I couldn’t tell you now; just my timing seemed a little off tonight. He was definitely tough. I hit him with some big shots. He stood up, he bounced around in the ring like a ping pong, but he stood tall. I take my hat off to him because he took some big shots.”
After this performance, it’s easy to knock Martin and say he can’t beat the top guys at 135, but sometimes in boxing, fighters have off nights. As Martin said, he was off. However, greatness overcomes off nights, and Martin showed a little ‘clutch gene’ by dropping Harutyunyan in the final round. Martin will learn from this fight and hopefully get better moving forward.
If he becomes a champion one day, Martin might look back on this fight as the fight that helped make him a better fighter.
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