In an IBF heavyweight eliminator, Luis “King Kong” Ortiz (33-2, 28 KOs) scored an exciting come-from-behind sixth round TKO over “Prince” Charles Martin (28-3-1, 25 KOs) on Saturday night at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida. Martin, who was IBF heavyweight champion for a minute in 2016, knocked down Ortiz with a shot behind the ear in round one. The 42-year-old Ortiz rebounded to win round two. Ortiz down again at the end of round four from a jab. In round six, Ortiz finally connected with an overhand left that put Martin out on his feet and Martin’s glove got bizarrely trapped between the ropes as he went down. Martin beat the count but Ortiz brutally battered him to the deck again to end it. Time was 1:37.
Unbeaten WBC #5, WBO #5 heavyweight Frank Sanchez (20-0, 13 KOs) outclassed late sub Christian Hammer (26-9, 16 KOs) over ten rounds, but was reluctant to let his hands go en route to a dull unanimous decision. Sanchez was credited with a dubious knockdown after a pushdown in round ten. Scores were 100-89 3x.
In a rematch, heavyweight Jonnie Rice (15-6-1, 10 KOs) won a slow-paced ten round unanimous decision over Michael Coffie (12-2, 9 KOs) by scores of 97-93, 97-93, 99-91. Easy win for Rice, despite weighing 15 pounds more than he did in winning their first fight.
WBO #14 heavyweight Ali Eren Demirezen (15-1, 12 KOs) broke down former world title challenger Gerald Washington (20-5-1, 13 KOs) over eight rounds. Washington’s corner finally asked for a referee’s stoppage and got it at :27 of round eight.
Heavyweight Viktor Faust (9-0, 7 KOs scored an exciting second round TKO over Iago Kiladze (27-6-1, 19 KOs). In a wild first round, Faust dropped Kiladze, Kiladze got up and floored Faust, Faust got up and dropped Kiladze again. In round two, Kiladze floored Faust again, then Faust knocked down Kiladze. Kiladze beat the count, but referee Sam Burgos waved off the fight. Kiladze was furious about the stoppage and tapped Burgos with a right hand. Time was 1:44. Seemed like a quick stoppage. Faust was a 33:1 favorite and no one expected this bout to go life and death.
Unbeaten lightweight Frank “The Ghost” Martin (15-0, 11 KOs) dominated Romero Duno (24-3, 19 KOs) and knocked him out in the fourth round. Impressive performance by Martin who floored Duno twice in round four. Time was 2:54. Martin looks ready to join the elites in the hot 135lb division.
Heavyweight Lenier Pero (6-0, 3 KOs) scored an eight round unanimous decision over Geovany Bruzon (6-1, 5 KOs). Scores were 77-75, 78-74, 78-74. Good scrap.
Martin is excellent. He’s a bigger puncher, and he doesn’t have that overall level of skill in my opinion, but reminds me a little of Stevie Johnston.
If Stevie dreamed of knockouts like that he’d have to wake up and apologize.
I nearly spat my drink out and then realized you weren’t talking about Charles Martin
LOL. Yes to everyone thinking I lost my damn mind. I was referring to FRANK Martin who fought on the prelims being like Stevie Johnston, not Charles.
Well, Sam Burgos should turn his referee license in. Corruption or ineptitude
Terrible referee. Sam Burgos why did you stop this fight?? Kaladze wasn’t dropped and Faust was with a nose hemorragie and you didn’t stop the fight for that. What an unfair decition !! I undestand perfectly why Iago Kaladze was so angry (me too). This fight has been unexpectedly exciting until this inept referee stopped it
On the other side the referee stopped correctly (in my opinion) the Washington vs the Turkish Andy Ruiz (Ali)…although Washington wasn’t floored his physical condition was bad and coudn’t continue with guarantees. Good stoppage !!
Corner stopped that one, not the red on his own. Not sure how Washington was ahead on the cards at the time of the stoppage.
washington was ahead because he was landing more punches.
“Kiladze was furious about the stoppage and tapped Burgos with a right hand.”
Saw the “tap” on YouTube, and that’s a good description of what happened. Just pushed his arm out and made a little contact. Curious what the penalty will be for that?
Sanchez had his first good win in his last fight, then they put him in with Hammer. (and yes Hammer was better than the guy he replaced) step it up
Sanchez is really good and will be tough for anyone to beat. But damn, his style is excruciating to watch. He might be the dullest heavyweight out there.
Didn’t see the fight, but Kiladza-Faust sounds like it was a barn burner! I believe Kiladze floored Efe Ajagba two years ago, the guy is no soft touch. Again, didn’t see the Coffie-Rice fight either, but it should end any talk of Coffie being a factor in the division. I saw some of his earlier fights and he looked spectacular against weak competition, but I felt he was just too old to just be getting started. A late start in boxing almost always comes back to haunt the fighter. In Coffie’s case, he was exposed early on.
It was an entertaining fight. In general Coffie looks better technicaly, but he has not hearth and ambition, just the opposite from Rice. Jonathan Rice is a good option for any young (and not so young) heavyweight who has to pass the test for next level.
Finally saw the entire Kiladze-Faust fight. Far more of a shootout than I expected. Would have loved to see that go a little further considering how vulnerable Faust looked. That could have been an absolute classic. The ref panicked, and I don’t blame Kiladze for being pissed. Still a damn entertaining fight. Faust will be in some fun fights in the future, but I don’t see him going very far. Too brittle. He reminds me of another German Heavyweight from a few years back by the name of Steffen Kretschmann.
BTW, whoever it was on here who recommended going to DailyMotion to catch the immediate replays of fights, thanks for the tip. Have been able to watch several PPV fights, sometimes on the same night of the fight on that website.
I mentioned that much better chance on DailyMotion than You Tube a few times. But lately getting harder to find on Daily Motion Fundora Garcia and Davis Cruz etc. If you come across Sanchez Hammer or Ortiz Martin full fights somewhere let us know
Ortiz-Martin full fight is on Daily Motion already, and thank you for that tip…
Nice I’m going to have to try that
Go ahead and disagree if you want but it know boxing 40* years
1. Ortiz needs to retire his legs are shot and he is going to get hurt really bad next time out
2. Martin had an easy fight, he flat ass blew it!
He looked like he has never been there before, way too big of a stage for him.
Fire all of his staff and re-start, he could be a top echelon fighter
Martin has great length, very good power and a small head; he should be a lot harder to hit ie Antonio tarver
No excuse for Martin to lose this!
Yeah if you remember look what Adam kownacki did to him I think he won the fight but he got beat up pretty bad by this dude
I am hoping to see Ortiz get a few good money fights in the future if he can’t get a title shot. Nice to see his family in the ring with him after. Must be tough watching a family member getting hit and knocked down.
Can’t wait to see Charles Martin memes lol
maybe now after this showing, a top hvwt will fight the 40 or 50 something year old Ortiz. (and No Martin is not that)
Comments:
– Thank you for Boxing on New Year’s Day.
– The card was typical for a cable TV event, not PPV.
– The Kiladza-Faust fight was outstanding.
– Gerald Washington is done as a fighter.
– Good for Johnnie Rice. He was a fun interview.
– Charles Martin had a lot of confidence until he was drilled and had no idea where he was.
– I’m in love w/Kate Abdo.
– Happy New Year too all !!!!!
Gary any freezing or buffering on the stick?
Johhny:
– I did get some freeze-up on the Washington fight, but all-good after that.
Used to record Bundesliga, German league soccer, every Saturday and Sunday because Kate Abdo hosted the pre, post and halftime shows. She’s fantastic.
Charles Martin would still be stuck in the ropes if the ref didn’t set him free.
He got Knocked down by a jabb by Charles Martin..lol any other decen bigger puncher would of stopped him in 3..
First off, Happy New Years everyone and GOD Bless. I pray that this year brings nothing but great health for all of you and that we get back to being US.
Great comeback by Ortiz after getting dropped twice. There was a noticeable silence in the crowd for a few rounds as this was home turf for Ortiz. Then thunder struck and woke everyone up.
Martin performed better than I expected. I thought that he would be out of there within 3, but he went about his business intelligently. The weight loss and being in shape definitely helped his career. He should be able to have a few paydays yet.
Ortiz has to make a move and stay busy. At 42 in a young man’s sport, father time is right on your heels. If not a title shot next, then at least some high profile scraps with some great returns.
I’m glad I was able to watch it live. Great way to start the year. I have not been there in years and it looks totally different.
Martin performed well tonight until he got nailed. That jab was looking good, and he had the right game plan. Strange how he stared into the crown for a second after getting nailed….clearly didn’t know where the **** he was for a second, but got up fighting. I know I’m in the minority here, but I thought they could have let Martin fight on. He was starting to fire back after that first knock down, and seemed to be coherent after the second knock down. Almost certainly wouldn’t have changed the outcome, but I think I would have let him go on, but with a very short leash….
Martin fights like wilder, he can’t box for sh*t, but he also doesn’t have the power those 2 knockdowns were really just Ortiz off balance/slowed reflexes, he wasn’t hurt.
I would love to see Sanchez against the top 5 contenders
Martin was sharp and Ortiz’s legs didn’t look sturdy in the early rounds. However, one punch turned it around and Martin looked like he didn’t know where he was. To his credit, Ortiz took full advantage and attacked with flurries to eventually put Martin away. It was a great victory for Ortiz so he had better get a title shot before his legs are totally gone.
As for Frank Sanchez, he turned in a disappointing performance. He was throwing one punch at a time against an opponent who was in survival mode. He should have attacked with combinations and gone to the body a lot more. There wasn’t much coming back from Hammer, but Sanchez still refused to step up his attack. I don’t think he’s ready for the top fighters at heavyweight.
Frank Martin looked spectacular against Duno. He was much too elusive and Duno had trouble landing his shots. I’d like to see Martin step up against the best in the division. He looks ready to compete with the top fighters.
King kong knocked down twice by martin and one time by a jab?
Has he lost his chin?
That he defeated martin was no surprise but seeing him floored by an inferior opponent was not expected.
Guess he feels his age. Too bad he didn’t get his shot earlier in his career, when closer to his prime
Rice-Coffie (also on Daily Motion, BTW) was a dreadful fight. Both guys looked slow and clumsy. There’s no damn way Rice won 9-1, as one judge had it. There were at least 4 rounds where next to nothing went on, but Coffie was at least getting a few jabs through in those rounds. The right guy won, but that was probably closer to 6-4. About the only thing that worked for Coffie in both fights was the straight right….or left out of the southpaw stance….to the body. He should have used it a little more against an out of shape Rice here.
Coffee reminds me of a fighter HBO tried to build up I think his name was Seth Mitchell For some reason they thought he was good and then upset by John Banks before thrown in with Arreola.
Mitchell was better than Coffie though. Mitchell was at least able to beat the likes of Timor Ibragimov and Chazz Witherspoon at least. It’s hard to believe Coffie was ever considered a prospect after watching his two fights vs. Rice.
Rice probably needs to drop at least 30 lbs. if he’s serious about his career. He looked extremely slow last night, and seemed winded every time he put a few punches together.
Even though I agree that Coffee was never much I thought he was a cinch to beat Rice yesterday. Hard to believe PBC thought this guy was something special. They also did this with a guy (not heavyweight) a few years back i think his name was Sammy Vazquez maybe and with Jamal James. None of these guys turned out to be much.
You also might want to check out allthebestfights…it is a site that tries to find links to every fight around the world. They use to post Russian links for every full fight great quality but not in our language but even these are getting taken down these days. But if your looking to watch some obscure fight not on US TV they might have it.they just put up a world title fight in Japanese. They also have stopped butting heads with PBC and Top Rank and don’t download their own anymore just post links
I forgot Seth Mitchell had beaten Ibragimov and he stopped him, the only person ever to do it (beautiful video of that fight on Youtube). Coffie got that win over Darmani Rock when I think most people assumed Rock was going to go through him, but he ran Rock over. I don’t know what he does now, he might be headed for gatekeeper duty if he chooses to go on.
I look at Rice and I think of Buster Douglas. They’re the same height and their reach is 2 inches apart. On Buster’s best day he was 231 and he did his best work in the 230’s and low 240’s. Rice’s lowest was 251. Can you imagine him at like 245? I’m not saying he’d be top 5, but that guy would give anyone a good fight. I wouldn’t be surprised if this guy goes and clearly loses his next fight to like Helenius.
Don’t know how far you go back but there was a heavyweight that fought for the police athletic league in Miami Phil Jackson his mgmt told us was another Tyson ended up being a B side fighter but did get a title shot i think.
@Johnny Ace I remember Jackson well. Watched him get KO’d by Lewis at a neighbor’s house. Was pulling for Jackson there because he was from Miami and I grew up in the Miami Metro area.
To answer how far back I go, a former pro boxer by the name of Pete Balcunas used to work with my Father, and he used to bring boxing films to our house when I was a kid. First fight that I was really interested in was Holmes-Cooney and all the hoopla around that, but I was only 11 at the time and didn’t know much about the sport. I guess around the Witherspoon-Bruno fight is when I really started following closely. Had family and friends who were fans, and a friend of mine growing up was an amateur boxer, so boxing was always around…
I figured you were a Fla guy i went to the U for a year but never went to class spent everyday at Gulfstream and Calder and Flagler park.
Remember a fighter out of Miami Crawford Terminator Grimsley?
I remember Max Kellerman saying that Mayweather Pacquiao could be the greatest promotion ever he was crazy comparing a fight years too late to Ali Frazier 1 Ali Foreman Leonard Duran 1 Leonard Hearns 1and Holmes Cooney
I came across Grimsley at a Home Depot in Sunrise, Fl. He went the distance with Foreman, but was KO’d by Jimmy Thunder in literally about 2 seconds.
You’d really have to follow the sport closely to know him, but there was a local fighter from Fort Lauderdale by the name of John Coward who I thought was a sure future champion. He was trained by Balcunas. Extremely talented but liked to party. Dude just fell off the radar completely.
Holmes-Cooney was heavily hyped. Apparently, they weren’t shy about using the race component to sell it. Whatever works I guess…
Funny story I sat right in front of James Thunder who has since passed I believe it was for the Donald Curry vs Emmet Linton fight shortly after the Grimsley fight and told him pretty good 10 seconds and he got kind of mad and said 6 seconds.
I had a friend who got friendly with Larry Holmes on a cross country flight and Holmes told him if Cooney had more experience before they fought he meaning Holmes would have been in trouble
Holmes-Cooney was televised on the pay channel ON_TV IIRC. If you weren’t a suscriber to that channel, you could still partially see what was going on. There was a squiggly (for lack of a better word) line that stopped you from getting a clear picture of whatever was being televised. There was no sound either. Myself, along with 4 or 5 friends watched it that way and could tell somebody hit the canvas, and I argued it was Holmes, which of course was incorrect. A friend of mine’s parents had a get together for that fight, but only for adults. We all went to his house and tried to see what was going on from his backyard. I was the only white guy in the group, and leading up to the fight I was telling everybody that Cooney was going to kick his ass, even though I had no idea what I was talking about. The build up to that, and fight night was fun though. Seemed like a huge event to me at the time…
The good ole days I lived ina fancy apt on Beverly Hills. All my friends plus my older uncle and his friends came to watch the fight and they were all Cooney this Cooney that and right before the fight someone was knocking on the door and it was a huge black security guard that wanted to watch the fight all the white guys were scared to say a word the whole fight but you could hear the security guard the whole fight yelling come on champ get him champ for Holmes
@Lucie Rice would be a poor man’s Buster Douglas I’d say, but I can see the comparison. Douglas was damn good I thought. Had an outstanding jab. Check out his fight with Mike Williams, who was a top prospect at the time. Douglas blew him away and looked great doing it. Don’t know if Rice will ever be that good, but he’s not giving himself a chance when he comes in at 283. Would love to see what he looks like in the 240s, or even 230s if he can get there…
Lucie i think at best Rice would be not a poor man’s but a poverty stricken Buster Douglasp
lol! Fair enough. I just always think of Buster as a body type comparison for Rice and then look at the weights he competed at when he was at his best. If Rice could get anywhere near there, no, he wouldn’t be champion, but I think he’d be much better than a gatekeeper to the potential stars.
@Lucie Rice did mention in the post fight interview that he made 6 figures for the rematch with Coffie, and can quit his job at whatever club he works at. Maybe he can focus on training a little more on boxing. Agreed that he won’t be a champion, but he may put himself in position for a string of good pay days….
Didn’t I see King Kong in a main event on Friday Night Fights with Don Dunphy back in the 1950s?
Entertaining fight by two trail horse contenders, can you believe it was a PPV? Although they were only charging
$10.