Instead, the Errol Spence protege' Frank Martin dominated Michel Rivera, knocked him down in the seventh round, and showed that while Martin is a talented boxer, he can punch a bit as well.
Martin won easily by scores of 120-107, 118-109, and 117-110 officially with my scorecard in the range of the officials at 119-108.
Martin's win came in a WBA eliminator, so he should move up in the ratings and with his talent, Martin should be in the center of the fallout when Devin Haney eventually moves to junior welterweight and vacates all four titles.
Frank Martin is going to be a tough out for anyone in the lightweight division and I'm anxious to see him when he makes the next step of the ladder of contention but PBC isn't exactly lightweight-heavy currently.
Other than Gervonta Davis and I can tell you that I have a better chance of winning the Boston Marathon than Gervonta Davis does of facing Frank Martin unless he is forced and Issac Cruz, there are no other threats to Martin on the PBC roster, so I'm hoping that he doesn't stagnate against average opponents over the next year or two.
In the co-feature, undefeated Vladimir Shishkin defeated former IBF super middleweight champion Jose Uzcategui by unanimous decision in an IBF eliminator that will earn Shishkin another eliminator berth in his next fight.
Uzcategui never threatened Shishkin, who outboxed and outpunched the former champion, who has never resembled the one-time "fighter no one wanted to face" after his upset defeat to Caleb Plant in 2019.
Shishkin is a solid all-around fighter that does nothing outstanding but everything well and could pick up a world title at some time in his career, provided that an elite champion doesn't hold the title at the time of his challenge.
The Showtime broadcast mentioned Shishkin as a possibility for minor titleholder David Morrell and I would really like that fight.
It would test both fighters against the best opponent of their career and the winner could make an argument as the number two contender in the division behind the winner of the January David Benavidez-Caleb Plant matchup for unified champion Canelo Alvarez.
Boxing Challenge
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