Charles Martin hands undefeated Gregory Corbin his first loss in Texas.

In what should have been the come out fight for undefeated Gregory Corbin 15/0 (9 Ko’s) on Saturday night, turned into a catastrophe on the Spence v Garcia undercard in Texas, when he found himself in over his head against former IBF heavyweight champion Charles Martin 25/2/1 (23 Ko’s) and resorted to desperate measures on his way to a disappointing DQ loss.. Corbin struggled to get a foothold in the fight as the more experienced Californian took the initiative, landing the cleaner shots and controlled the tempo, hurting Corbin at the end of the session.. Round two followed a similar pattern with Corbin struggling to get off before the lively Martin, who was maintaining the superior work rate, Corbin lacking the urgency of a man in the biggest fight of his career..
Corbin did land in the third but it didn’t subdue Martin, who immediately forced the undefeated Texan back into the ropes.. Charles who has shown decent character since his return from the Joshua loss, looked to have a far more enthusiastic energy than Corbin, who’s punches now appeared raggedy in comparison.. Martin picked up a cut eye midway through the fourth and Corbin was deducted a point for a misplaced low punch...
Round five saw Corbin again walking into needless punches, shrugging in retort as a show of optimistic bravado.. Frustrated at the pattern of the fight, Corbin once again threw a pointless low shot and was deducted a point for the second time, leaving him with a monumental task on the scorecards in what was turning into an embarrassingly one sided affair.. Martin stuck to task and didn’t let the cut or the fouling interrupt his game, methodically out-landing his now sorry looking opponent.. Despite lively instruction in the corner Greg started the 6th with as much enthusiasm as he did in the previous 5 sessions.. Struggling to survive Martins heavy handed counterpunching, Corbin unthinkably slammed a dreadful right hand into Martins groin, leaving the referee Mark Calo-oy with no option but to deduct a third successive point from the now demoralised Corbin, along with a stern final warning.. The undefeated 38 year old still didn’t appear to respond with any urgency tomhis terribly one sided predicament, and just continued to plod back in aimlessly..
Martin completely dictated the seventh, with Corbin now looking lost and subdued.. Corbins frustration and desperation manifested itself in round eight, as he intentionally sabotaged his biggest opportunity with yet another dreadfully low blow, leaving Mark Calo-oy no option but to disqualify the prospect leaving him with his first loss and a priceless lesson.. Corbin looked completely out of his depth having never faced anyone remotely close to Martins class, and will have to go back and look closely as his own development.. Its evident that he has ability, but without real structured learning fights he may never see this type of opportunity again for some time.. Martin isn’t the greatest heavyweight in the world, but he’s still young, strong and heavy handed.. This victory, paired with his gallant showing against Adam Kownacki last September May see the colourful St Louis native in a few more entertaining high profile fights..