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So we have another good fight in the horizon here. Shakur Stevenson will finally have a dance partner in Frank Martin. And it's interesting as the rivalry between the two camps, Crawford, who obviously will back Shakur here, against a fighter of Spence in Frank Martin.

Shakur is rank #2, while Frank is rank #4. And perhaps the winner here might go after the WBC champion in Devin Haney (although he doesn't want no part of Shakur hehehe as he has plan to move up in weight class and fight Regis Prograis).

With that, this is very exciting fight, and for sure there will be a lot of trash talking here. And we will see if Shakur technical abilities will be too much for Frank Martin to overcome.

I think this is going to be a competitive fight, Frank Martin is trying to position itself in this weight class and it's good to see that he is stepping up and fighting for me the biggest hype at 135 lbs in Shakur Stevenson.

And Shakur has the hype right now, he wanted to fight anyone, from Loma to Haney but it seems no one is willing, but Frank Martin. And as the OP said, there is a some competition behind as Stevenson is very close to Crawford, not sure though if they trained under BoMac. And on the other hand, Martin is under Spence. So for sure there are already some animosity behind this fighter even before the actual fight.

Shakur's belt isn't on the line but this is a title fight for WBC vacant title. Martin seem under rated fighter with more experience than Shakur but had not give more shots for a title fight but this one. The WBC however is not making it easy for him as he is to fight one of the technical fighter.

Shakur had capitalized his wins against the big names he fought.

Shakur is not a champion here, all the belts still belongs to Haney. But it seems that Shakur is on the rise in this division. And with this fight, I think more is on the line here for Shakur, to the point that I think this is a must win for him to stay in path for at least the WBC belt.

But as you have said, his oppponent is one underrated fighter, and so he will try to do his best to upset Shakur here. So let's see how it goes, Shakur might be the favorite but I think it will be a close one in the sport bookies.

Shakur is being trained by his grand father.

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Here is the highlights for Frank Martin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_oVTxr_mRg

He is good, no doubt about it and he was being trained by Derrick James. But I do think that he hasn't fought a opposition as smart as Shakur is. He is a southpaw and Shakur has a good record fighting lefty.

It might a good fight in paper, but I'm seeing Stevenson winning in the hands of the judges.

Same thought here mate, Shakur is the next big name in boxing if handled properly. With this announcement, his supposed fight with Loma is off by now but the good thing with Frank Martin is that the latter has no loss on his record, this might add curiosity on some so that they will watch this fight but the truth is, this is a fight where Shakur will win no matter what as he can't afford to have a backslide on his glamorous career.

I agree, he is about to hit the prime years, and we all know that high caliber athletes when they are in their prime are hard to beat. And as much as Frank Martin is good, surrounding himself with good promoter like Spence and trainer in James, it's going to be hard for him to stop Shakur and it might be a bad timing for him to face Shakur at this point.

The thing with Martin is that he lack the experience, seen his highlights but there are no known boxers in his resume. While Shakur since before the lower weight has face a lot of great boxers and he all beat them technically, and some with body shots.

In these fights, Martin is good and looks invincible because those fighters allowed him to be, There is no opposition he just hits these boxers and they all go down, but with Shakur's presence, I doubt if he can do that, Shakur is a fighter who knows how to counter how to jab how to not get hit, something all these boxers Martin fought do not have.

There is a level for every boxer and I doubt Martin is ready to fight a guy like Shakur who is way ahead when it comes to levels and skills, I expect an explosive fight, but in the end, the guy who has more will likely win and that is Shakur Stevenson.

This is also what I'm thinking, because Shakur might try to go for a couple of rounds and see how Frank Martin will react and then adjust his game plan. And although he has a decent power, he is not a knockout artist in the mold of Tank Davis.

So very careful in the beginning and then just starts to get hot in the middle of the round and takes over and win by a good score in the judges hand. And as what we have been wanting to see, him and Haney at 135 lbs will be good for a unification fight.

Boxrec is not updated yet - Frank Martin record.
 (https://boxrec.com/en/box-pro/814937)
Anyway, this should be a great fight for Shakur as he will face an undefeated boxer. As usual, I will still be rooting for Shakur as he makes his opponents look like amateurs with his unbeatable skills, although it can be a bit boring, I have to admit. But from a bettor's perspective, I would call myself a fool if I do not bet on him.

Based on https://www.oddschecker.com/us/boxing-mma/boxing/shakur-stevenson-v-frank-martin, Shakur is a -500 favorite.

He is undefeated but cannot be considered on Shakur's level I'm sure Shakur can easily deal with Martin his first loss, the early rounds will be challenging for Shakur but in the latter rounds like round 7 up Shakur will take over, he's been through a lot of great fights and Shakur dominates those challenges from top fighters.

Martin's only chance is a lucky punch in the early rounds but the big problem is how to close the gap, Shakur has a very good lateral movement and ring generalship, he'll give Martin a lesson in boxing.

I have seen his fight highlights, and I can already tell he would lose to Shakur. His style is inferior to Shakur's, knowing that Shakur loves to box and is very quick. So, I doubt Martin would be able to score a KO or even hurt Shakur. I think the scenario we are going to see here will be Shakur vs. Oscar Valdez, so Shakur will likely win via a unanimous decision.

Checking the poll and the comments here nobody picked Martin to beat Shakur, Shakur is so good that even an undefeated fighter with a good knockout ratio can challenge Shakur, the poll and the discussion will end picking Shakur unanimously as the winner, Martin is a big underdog here and Shakur a heavy favorite, I just hope Martin can give Shakur a good fight and this fight is a breakthrough fight for Martin, but not yet his time to fight a heavy favorite like Shakur.
This fight is more like a tuneup fight for Shakur against Haney, and this is a very good tune fight for him.

Yes, they are creating a lot of hype on Frank Martin or at least his team, but we all know that Shakur is just above the current set of 135 lbs fighters, maybe except Haney or Tank Davis.

But currently they wanted to test him with Martin but then again, Martin might be good but as you have said, he is the big underdog and the best scenario is go and test Shakur chin, that is if he can target it as Shakur is also known to have a good defense. So most likely a tune up fight and winning here could land him a fight for the belt.

Nobody is a champion here, Shakur is already fighting in lightweight division (135) and not in super-feather (130). Both of them is fighting for the vacant WBC title because the Devin Haney is now at 140 trying to challenge the champion, Regis Prograis.

Although there is a slight twist to this bout because the title is not literally vacant after all because WBC is just naming Haney as a champion in recess because of his current situation which I mentioned above. But if Haney will be successful in his upcoming fight and will choose to continue his career at 140 then he will be stripped all of his belts which are situated at 135.

About the two of them, Shakur got more experience and not Frank.
You can see both of their records here:
https://boxrec.com/en/box-pro/814937 (Frank)
https://boxrec.com/en/box-pro/790719 (Shakur)

He can only test Shakur's chin if he can hit him. Given Shakur's style, his opponents would have a hard time imposing their offense on him, as he is a very slick fighter. He moves around and uses his jab very well. Martin doesn't have the quickness and power to match Shakur, so I think they can only increase the hype. But I wouldn't be surprised if the fans were disappointed in the actual fight.

The only hype that they are going to go on this fight is the fact Martin is undefeated and he is an undefeated fight but they cannot hype it as the fight will be equal, they are going to hype it because Martin has a good chance to upset Shakur, Martin is not yet ready for Shakur whereas Shakur faces a lot of fighters better than Martin.
The only chance Martin can beat Shakur is if Shakur underestimates the power of Martin and comes unprepared, all analyses put Shakur as the overwhelming favorite.

I don't think that Shakur would let his guard down this time as he knew that big paydays are ahead if he could beat this obstacle. You are right, in terms of talent level, Frank Martin is way below than that of Shakur and upset on this match is very slim because Shakur will be focus as he is eyeing to fight either Loma or Haney next so a lose is not an option here and uncle Bob knows that hehe.

On offense he is good but his chin was never tested and no one he fought are hard puncher All that he fought were patsies and low-level fighters Frank Martin will be in the biggest surprise of his life when suddenly he finds himself an opponent who can take a punch who can counter who can allude a punch.
I don't see this fight any different from fighters Shakur fought in the past, but he needs to look impressive here if he wants Haney he will be in line for major titles even title unification if he knocks out a fighter with an impressive record, even though the record is not something you can all A level record.

Another good fight in boxing. Both fighters have the skills but I believe Shakur Stevenson's skills are at the other level. What Frank Martin has is he is used to this division or even higher so he is the stronger guy. We shall see if Shakur gains power gaining weight or he's power remains mediocre. Nonetheless, Martin has to show no respect for Shakur if he wants to win this fight.

What makes this more exciting is it is a battle between PBC and Showtime versus Top Rank and ESPN. Top Rank and ESPN are the ones handling this fight. As far as I remember since the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight, Top Rank has 3 wins with a draw while losing none over PBC. Two Tyson Fury wins over Deontay Wilder and a draw and the latest was Naoya Inoue's dominating win over former unified champion Stephen Fulton. If Bud Crawford hadn't left Top Rank, it would've been another solid victory by Top Rank over PBC.

Seems like PBC's big stars are hyped inside their network but lose big time every time they face the other networks' stars. Tank Davis is the only remaining undefeated PPV star of PBC and I also believe that Top Rank's Shakur will put him in school in dominating fashion.

It's a matter of who has the better offense because Shakur isn't a big KO threat. We can expect that his opponent will survive the full 12 rounds. He only has a 50% KO rate, so I think Martin will be able to go the distance. However, I doubt if Martin can outscore Shakur since the latter boxes like Mayweather, who is hard to hit due to his quickness and high ring IQ.

I guess that is the only advantage of Frank Martin because he will have a full 12-round chance because Shakur is not that type of boxer who has a devastating knockout power. After that, it falls on him alone if how will he outsmart Shakur inside the ring because if we're talking about chances, Shakur will always have an upper hand even against boxer who is a KO artist because he can think clearly what to do and uses his speed to avoid punches that could ended a fight much sooner.

Yes, Shakur too is too intelligent to fall for that trick to engage Martin and fight him in his own game. I think Shakur will used his boxing skills here and it will be displayed with a total dominant win via 12 rounds.

Maybe Martin will have some rounds to win with his flash skills but I doubt that it can win against the technical skills of Shakur. With that, I will vote for Shakur to win by decision as well.

And I read that this is for the interim WBC title at 135 lbs? What gives? I mean they still have their regular champion in Haney so why the hell WBC have to put up another interim belt on the line? It doesn't make sense. All they have to do is wait for the result of this fight and whoever it is, then fight their regular champion, be the mandatory fighter for the belt held by Haney?

I guess corrupt WBC will have to give way again to Top Rank to have another champion in the line for them. In any case, this is a good fight as I have said before, but Shakur for me has the better skills and will win the fight.

It's because Haney is moving up in weight class and wants to fight Regis Prograis at 140 lbs.
So for now, he can't defend his belt and they don't know what will be the decision or Haney based on the result of his fight.
For the meantime, their top rank fighter in their division is Loma, but Loma said that he didn't want to fight at least for this year after that lost to Haney.
And so the number 2 Stevenson become the highest rank fighter to fight for the interim belt against their number 4.
So whoever wins this fight, and Devin Haney doesn't want to defend the belt or will stay at 140 lbs, they might relegate the status of the winner here to a full and regular WBC 135 lbs champion.

He can also knock out anyone though, I mean his body shots can bring people down. But obviously, he wants to break his opponents, mentality then physically that's why Shakur is one of the best complete fighter. But he really need to show his skills in a big fight and I think this fight will be another defining moments in his career.

And the thing with fighters with good knockout power is that they tend to lend it more on that, they fell in love with that power. And if their opponents is very good in defense and they can't land that power shots, usually they get frustrated and eventually lose the fight.

The confusion is caused by the ridiculous amount of belts that the WBC hands out. They have the regular champion, franchise champion, champion in recess, and interim championship. The media is reporting that Shakur vs. Martin is for the interim belt but the WBC website states that it's for the vacant title which means that Haney is no longer champion. Shakur is already the mandatory but Haney has decided to move up in weight and fight Prograis instead. The other sanctioning bodies should follow suit and allow the top challengers to fight for their titles instead of allowing Haney to hold the belts hostage in a division he is no longer competing in.

Just like in the case of Charlo if I'm not mistaken, either of the brother has held hostage the belt that they hold one time or another. Like Jermell, who is going to fight Canelo next. He is supposed to fight Tszyu for the belt but then they postponed it because of his supposedly hand injuries.

Now, he is fighting Canelo, so they should have stripped him of the belt and let Tsyzu become their regular champion. As for this fight, yes, this should be for the vacant because it's obvious that the champion is campaigning to a higher division already.

An update on this fight: Frank Martin has pulled out and Stevenson is now looking to fight #6 ranked fighter Edwin de los Santos.
https://www.boxingscene.com/shakur-stevenson-seeks-new-opponent-wbc-lightweight-title-fight-frank-martin-out--177598

My guess is that Haymon has managed to pull some strings and another one of Haney's belts will suddenly be declared vacant so that Martin can face an easier opponent instead. Stevenson has called himself the most ducked fighter in boxing and that claim may be accurate. None of the top fighters in the division seem too interested in fighting him.

So bad. This fight is off. It's already circulating quickly in the boxing community since yesterday. I don't know who's right or wrong. The purse bid was called off after PBC and Martin allowed Top Rank and ESPN to handle this fight. But once Martin receives the contract, he don't want to sign it citing he was low-balled by Shakur and Top Rank. Martin is guaranteed over a million dollars which will be his biggest purse in his career which seems very good already knowing this is also his first title fight. I guess he is okay with that money which is actually very big already but he felt low-balled upon knowing that Shakur is guaranteed $5 million.

PBC fans will call this a low blow but Top Rank fans will call Martin greedy. Shakur is obviously the A-side here. Shakur just moved up but prior to that, he was a former 2-division world champion, former unified champion, and lineal champion at 130.

The WBC, Shakur, and Top Rank are now looking at who's next in the rankings. But hopefully, they can still settle the issue. Maybe give Frank Martin $1.5 million before giving up on him. If Martin refuses then he is missing his chance of a title fight. I doubt Martin can contest and tell the WBC to make the purse bid since he and PBC already called it off in favor of Top Rank.

Thanks I was about to update this thread as well with the postponement. So I guess Shakur will have to find another dance partner because it seems that it's a clear duck on the side of Martin or his camp not to fight Shakur when everything was agreed upon already as per Shakur's team and that they just had to send the documents and sign by Martin.

So sorry for Frank Martin though, I mean this is his chance to really break out and get the interim belt or even the regular belt for that matter. But I guess his advisers doesn't want that, or at least the money that they are getting.

I'll keep the thread for at least 24 hours and then lock it out to hear other thoughts on the cancellation as to who is affected more.

Doesn't makes sense isn't it? When you have that big opportunity in the line to get that kind of money, then suddenly you turn it down?
I feel sorry for Martin though, maybe someone from inside calls it, maybe it was his promotion Spence who doesn't like what they see.


It's business though, we all know that someone will really have to start below at like $1 million offer and then make his way up if he becomes a champion.
So no excuses here, it was about the money and Frank Martin's camp became greedy.


Isaac "Pitbull" Cruz and William Zepeda is rank 4 and 5 in WBC. But not sure if Top Rank are going to be interested on those names though.
Shakur will have to find a dance partner in the next couple of weeks.

If it's not Haney or Tank,  Shakur can easily deal with any fighter that is put in front of him, This Edwin de Los Santos has a good record but his skill is not even close to what Shalur can do in the ring, We have a good discussion on this Shakur Stevenson vs Frank Martin but we all end up with Shakur winning bu knock out or decision but Martin has an easy shortcut to being a champion, thanks to his manager but he will be a weak champion compared to the other champion in his division, and maybe he will cross path against Shakur in the future so he better be ready.

It's not that new anymore because we already saw some boxers who did it, it's just a business after all and it's about giving some favors in-exchange for another favor that they might need in the coming future. They may able to hide it in plain sight but the signs that they are doing cannot be ignored specially for the people who has been following the latest news in boxing as it's hard to believe that they are just doing these stunts without something in return.

Thanks for the heads up mate!

Tough guess and I'd say that maybe that was really the case but even we say that Al Haymon wasn't the one pulling the strings behind the scenes, we still cannot blame Frank Martin for pulling out from this fight that could land him a belt once Haney will be stripped if he continue his journey at 140 pounds because he himself already know the chances and that the belt that he will be fighting for is not that realistic to obtain because he will be facing Shakur Stevenson, who is touted to be more intelligent and stronger than Haney.

But this is Frank Martin's chance to show the world if he has what it takes to become a champion, whether this is just for the interim belt. But his team pull out in the last minute as we have thought that everything has been settled down verbally as this didn't go on purse bid and so we've thought that this is a go fight already.

Perhaps Frank Martin doesn't want to take the risk here, as they know that Shakur might win and obviously will put a dent on Martin's career. Anyhow, let's see how will be the replacement, they will have to find someone else.

And for sure, Shakur will go to social media and tell that Frank duck them very clearly.

It was Frank Martin's chance to show what he is made of but he cannot accept to take the trouble and risk his career in-front of Shakur because for him, just imagining it, he just cannot defeat the latter. He wasn't that confident that is why they pulled the plug before these things will be fixed and they no longer can take a U-turn up ahead.

Anyway, I'm already expecting what you said because Shakur just proved it again that the guys are ducking him, including Haney. Now, nobody can argue that because that's what happened.

It's not good for a boxer's career if they duck big names All they care about is an easy it just proves that they are inferior fighters In the olden days when there were few championship belts and governing boxing bodies, the best had to fight the best to get a title now you can easily get a shot and win a title if your promoter is good t cherry picking

Of course, he is the heavy favorite and he has the upper hand and there's manipulation so it's easy to think that he is being ducked but by weaker opponents only.

Well, without a doubt and as expected, Shakur Stevenson himself already made a move on the social media about the recent ducking incident where his supposedly foe for a championship fight, Frank Martin, suddenly pulled out after both camps have already agreed to a fight in November 16. But what is funnier is that I didn't expect that Frank Martin will response to it saying that he is not ducking anybody.

I mean it will help his case if he has some reasons to back up his actions, but the thing is, he doesn't have any.

Yes, he responded by saying that "I ain't duck s**t", but it's very clear to us boxing fans that he avoided Stevenson.
Maybe down the line they are still going to fight, but after their supposedly negotiations and some insider information that both parties have agreed and they even had dates already narrow then and then suddenly the camp of Frank Martin calls it off? Then it's very obvious.


Except that money ain't that good, easy as that.
But sometimes to have to take less to gain more, as what others boxers did throughout their careers and it paid off.

^^ There's also this speculation that it was not just about the money, but Martin was advised by Derrick James, that they need more time. So it means that he is afraid as a trainer that Frank might not win his fight against Shakur because he is not going to be ready, either because he doesn't have the tools right now, or he needs more experience, more fights under his belt to be his best version before he will have at least a chance to beat Shakur at this point. They don't want to take that risk, specially after what they see on Spence getting beat up by Crawford. This is just too bad for both camps, as Stevenson become the most avoided fighter right now, and Frank Martin, doesn't look good because of him backing down.

So I guess he can't call Shakur unless he is ready. But in the last couple of months, he can't get out Shakur names from his mouth and seems desperate to fight him. And now that they are offered money by Top Rank, which I think is fair though, not comes the reason that they are not ready?

What happen to boxing now? who is going to be Martin's replacement though, it seems that Pitbull doesn't want to fight him as well. So from top to bottom they are obviously ducking Shakur at 135 lbs.