2020 Feb 22

Charles Martin vs. Gerald Washington

12 rounds, IBF heavyweight eliminator

Charles Martin (27-2-1) faces Gerald Washington (20-3-1) on the undercard of Wilder-Fury. Martin became a World Champion in 2016 when he won the vacant IBF title against Vyacheslav Glazkov but lost it the very next fight against Anthony Joshua where he was knocked out in 2 rounds. After that he was out of the ring for a year then had 2 fights against weak opposition before his next big fight that came in Sep 2018 against Adam Kownacki. Martin and Kownacki had known each other for a long time as they had been sparring partners and sparred an estimated 300 rounds together. The fight was very close and Kownacki won a narrow decision. Last year Martin stayed active fighting two times and winning both fights. Gerald Washington is coming of his best career victory when he beat Robert Helenius in July of last year. He was trailing on the cards after 7 rounds but found a homerun shot that landed on Helenius chin and he knocked him out. Helenius looked slow and past his best in that fight and even with on mind, Helenius was the one that had the lead before he got caught. Washington has been stopped all three times that he has lost. First against Wilder in the 5th round, then against Miller in the 8th round and the last time he lost, against Kownacki in the 2nd round. Martin is the better fighter of the two technically and he is good at finding the target with his left hand from his tricky southpaw stand. When he has faced good fighters like Joshua and Kownacki, he has struggled, but Washington is not nearly as skilled as either of them. What Washington has that might be his best attribute is his physique as he is a physically strong and imposing fighter. In the past, Washington´s chin has betrayed him several times and when a fighter gets knocked out hard a few times as he has the problem rarely goes away. It can me masked by defending your chin better but usually when they face big punchers again, the same thing happens.

Washington will struggle against Martin who will land the better and more meaningful punches. Charles Martin is faster and slicker and he does hit hard when he sits on his punches. We see Charles Martin winning this fight but it is difficult to tell whether he stops Washington or not depending on how the fight plays out so we are keeping it simple and unspecified here; The Pick is Charles Martin to win this fight for a price of -225 (1.40 decimal odds). Added Feb 21: The odds have dropped since we published this and the best price available at the moment on Charles Martin seems to be around -300 (1.33 decimal odds)

The Pick: Charles Martin to win fight
Odds: -225 (1.40 decimal odds)
Units: 10
Start time: 9pm ET / 6pm PT