Ryan Martin lands a left hook against Misael Chacon in a recent fight in PA on a Showtime Boxing card promoted by Mike Tyson.From his residence in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, Ryan Martin said it was “awesome” that Central High School was in the state football playoffs and had a winning record this year.
The Purple Pounders’ record is not nearly as impressive as the 21-year-old Central graduate’s.
He’s 8-0 as a professional lightweight boxer in less than 14 months of action. He tries this evening to go to 9-0 — 7-0 in 2014. But Martin, a protege of rapper 50 Cent through SMS Promotions, is fighting his toughest opponent to date in his most prestigious setting.
The former star of Chattanooga’s Y-Cap boxing program will be facing Martin Cardona of Mexico, who is 17-3 with 12 knockouts and fought last year for the IBF super featherweight championship. They are the first bout, starting about 5:30 p.m., on an Atlantic City (N.J.) Boardwalk Hall card headlined by Bernard Hopkins against Sergey Kovalev in a light heavyweight matchup consolidating three championships.
The back end of the nine-bout card will be televised by HBO. The opener is scheduled for six rounds, which would be the longest yet for “Blue Chip” Martin if it goes the distance. He’s won half his matches by knockout. The other four were four-round unanimous decisions.