Just can't see Martin as anything other than bad. He has always looked just lame and sloppy to me. Even in victory. If the elderly King Kong can't beat him down easy, he should hang em' up.
Let us be real here. If Ortiz wins a fight like this at his age, that is Foremanesque stuff. We are talking p4p levels of greatness and he shouldeth be lauded as such but you jokers won't.
I'm not sure he has a glass chin, he could of gotten up after Joshua dropped him but realised the gulf in ability was vast and he was only going to get put down again so quit. If Martin can take it late it might get interesting as we see Ortiz likely fade down the stretch. I hope we get a good fight but I suspect Ortiz will blast him out of there at some point. Martin might not be as bad as some say he is but he isn't that good either. Drawing with Kownacki, beating Washington etc he's clearly not a total bum but he's not a serious contender either despite being a former champion.
Ortiz should just blow Martin away inside 5 because Ortiz is said to be a good counter puncher with power and we saw how Martin got wipes out in 2 by counters from Joshua if Ortiz doesn't do a job on him then his position as a top 20 fighter will be put into question
Ortiz looks like he trained at the Taco Bell buffet. He's in bad shape. Martin trimmed down to 245 again, his cardio should be fine. He had the same weight in the Kownacki fight and his engine was impressive in the second half. If Ortiz can't get the stoppage in the first half he might be in trouble. Officially picking Martin for the upset now.
Couldn't agree more with this. Then again, Ortiz was never a serious contender either. That's what I find strangest about this thread... A lot of people buy into Ortiz hype, and make this out as if it's an aged but legit contender against a journeyman bum (only giving Martin any chance if Ortiz is completely shot). I have this down as a real 50/50 right now - at peak it's probably 65/35 Ortiz for me, but Ortiz is getting very old and he's not going to be any less rusty than Martin.
On resume I only ever had Ortiz as fringe top ten, so I'm no Ortiz nuthugger here... But if Martin does a job on Ortiz it says little other than that either Ortiz is shot and finished or Martin isn't quite as trash as he's often made out - it's not going to invalidate his career any more than Povetkin's zombie looking like a helpless child in Whyte 2 changes that Pov was a legit contender (something Ortiz never was)
Martin is in that Helenius/Washington/Kownacki bracket. We know how good he is. Im fairly certain Takam even now would dominate Martin easily. Ortiz is past it but he's been past it, even in both Wilder fights. He had a somewhat decent win against Jennings but that was a while ago If Martin wins maybe Ortiz is shot. Or maybe he was just overrated, or both. But i think Ortiz wins. I just see Martin running into counters all day and getting stopped. We'll see on the night of the fight
Agreed I am backing Martin for the upset he is easily one of Ortiz top 5 toughest opponents and Ortiz is at least 45. Martin’s chin isn’t so bad getting knocked out by AJ doesn’t mean you have a glass jaw as AJ can obviously crack with the best of them.
Have to disagree a bit. After Ortiz destroyed Jennings - who, after all, had the outcome of his title fight against Wlad very much in doubt into the championship rounds - nobody wanted to fight him. When Ortiz failed to stop Scott - who did nothing but run the whole fight - Ortiz lost that luster and became just another high-risk/low-reward name. Yes, there's a chance that age will enable Martin to beat Ortiz - but I think Ortiz can utilize all of Martin's considerable shortcomings to have him out of there quickly before Ortiz's age catches up with him. Yes, Ortiz will be rusty - but at least he learned how to box properly once upon a time.
I'll throw in my own disagreement. Jennings didn't exactly turn up against Ortiz looking like a man who wanted to win, IMHO. As such, I don't believe the Jennings that fought Ortiz was close to the challenge that the Jennings who fought Wlad would've been. Still, yes, once upon a ped, Ortiz did look like he might have some potential - then he went on to fight nobodies with the exception of an exceptionally technically limited title holder in Wilder, who knocked him out twice before being thoroughly embarassed by the only true contender he ever fought (Fury). I just don't think it's reasonable to paint Ortiz as if he were the kind of special fighter that's going to walk through a gatekeeper level fighter like Martin - Ortiz was never more than a gatekeeper himself, albeit I think a bit better of one than Martin. Only thing now is Ortiz is old as well as not all that special. Ortiz got a lot of hype just because he was fighting Wilder (to make Wilder look better when he beat him) and he got a lot more cred from the Jennings fight than I would necessarily give him either. Still, this should at least be an interesting one to see where they both are now, even if I don't think either are really all that relevant going forward regardless of what happens.
