Is Charles Martin the worst heavyweight champ ever?

[Freedom2013]

You mean titleholder, not champ.

There are other bad ones, but he's definitely at least one of the worst.

Some others:

Shannon Briggs
Sergey Lyakhovich
Marvin Hart
Primo Canera
Tommy Morrison
Buster Douglas
Henry Akinwande

[Taki...]

I'd rate him up there with Michael Bentt. That said I can think of plenty of 'better' HW Champs who have bored me to tears.

[Verdi]

Frans Botha and Hasim Rahman also worth a mention

[Kalan]

Michael Bentt is the worst... Tommy Morrison's people picked the greenest and most easily punched challenger they could find... Bentt had only 11 fights and looked absolutely terrible... None of his opponents were ever heard from. China chinned Morrison took one on the chin and Bentt became the impossible champ.

Bentt's FIRST challenger was Herbie Hide who wasn't very good.. Hide easily hit Bentt with everything he threw. He ended Bentt's "career." Bentt nearly died from the beating Hide gave him. Vitali Klitschko knocked Hide out in 2 rounds to win his 1st Title---so Hide wasn't a good boxer either.

[Taki...]

Michael Bentt is the worst... Tommy Morrison's people picked the greenest and most easily punched challenger they could find... Bentt had only 11 fights and looked absolutely terrible... None of his opponents were ever heard from. China chinned Morrison took one on the chin and Bentt became the impossible champ.

Bentt's FIRST challenger was Herbie Hide who wasn't very good.. Hide easily hit Bentt with everything he threw. He ended Bentt's "career." Bentt nearly died from the beating Hide gave him. Vitali Klitschko knocked Hide out in 2 rounds to win his 1st Title---so Hide wasn't a good boxer either.

Hide wasn't that bad. His whiskers weren't up to much and he was a bit undersized for a HW.
If he'd campaigned at cruiser I think he'd have been a lot better off, but then again HW is where the money is.

[Nightmare Roy]

Frans Botha and Hasim Rahman also worth a mention

Prime Rahman would destroy Martin.

[asdfjkl]

The names I see above indeed and David Haye.

[KingJune]

Lucas Big pus$y Brown has some version of a belt.

Charles Martin would counter and KO Lucas Brown

[Freedom2013]

The names I see above indeed and David Haye.

Good call. David Haye should definitely be on any "worst heavyweight titleholder" list.

[Chepppaaa]

ruiz, the guy that martin won aginst, what was his name gradovich?? byrd, chagaev....all very weak titleholder to me.

[Freedom2013]

ruiz, the guy that martin won aginst, what was his name gradovich?? byrd, chagaev....all very weak titleholder to me.

Byrd and Chagaev were decent HWs in their respective primes, much better than Martin, Morrison, Lyakhovich and Bentt.

Glazkov who was injured in the fight with Martin never had a world title.

[tigermoth87]

Anybody who mentions Haye is a moron. Like him or not, he's a genuine world level fighter. Yeah, he cherry picks opponents but he's still one of the top 5 heavyweights in the world. Wins over Chisora and Valuev blow anything Martin has done out of the water.

If Martin was British he wouldn't even crack the top 5 British fighters. Fury, Haye, Joshua, Whyte, Hughie, Chisora and Price are all better than him. He's on the same level as Sam Sexton, that's how shit he is.

[Syntax Error]

He's arguably the worst trinket holder, although he does have stiff competition for that crown.

As for linear champions, I've always been torn between Marvin Hart, Leon Spinks or Hasim Rahman: can't quite make my mind up!!!

[Syntax Error]

Anybody who mentions Haye is a moron. Like him or not, he's a genuine world level fighter. Yeah, he cherry picks opponents but he's still one of the top 5 heavyweights in the world. Wins over Chisora and Valuev blow anything Martin has done out of the water.

If Martin was British he wouldn't even crack the top 5 British fighters. Fury, Haye, Joshua, Whyte, Hughie, Chisora and Price are all better than him. He's on the same level as Sam Sexton, that's how poo he is.

You're right, Haye doesn't belong on this thread, but what makes you think he's a top 5 HW right now?

He hasn't fought anyone with a pulse in nearly five years & he bitched himself in that fight & blamed his toe, plus he was inactive for 3.5 years of that.

We need to see how he reacts to an opponent who isn't on life support & secondly, how his shoulder holds up in a tough battle before declaring him as a top 5 HW.

[tigermoth87]

Anybody who mentions Haye is a moron. Like him or not, he's a genuine world level fighter. Yeah, he cherry picks opponents but he's still one of the top 5 heavyweights in the world. Wins over Chisora and Valuev blow anything Martin has done out of the water.

If Martin was British he wouldn't even crack the top 5 British fighters. Fury, Haye, Joshua, Whyte, Hughie, Chisora and Price are all better than him. He's on the same level as Sam Sexton, that's how poo he is.

You're right, Haye doesn't belong on this thread, but what makes you think he's a top 5 HW right now?

He hasn't fought anyone with a pulse in nearly five years & he bitched himself in that fight & blamed his toe, plus he was inactive for 3.5 years of that.

We need to see how he reacts to an opponent who isn't on life support & secondly, how his shoulder holds up in a tough battle before declaring him as a top 5 HW.

Looking at the division, Fury, Wlad, Povetkin and Ortiz all beat him. Wilder it's 50-50. I can't really see anyone else in the division beating Haye. I say that as a guy who can't stand Haye btw. He's a cherry-picking, excuse-making ducker looking for the easiest way to the top. Which makes him all the more frustrating to be fair because he is a world level boxer.

[T.M.K]

I think some people are missing something here:

Of all the men who won the title and then lost it in their first defence, no-one has had such a dodgey win for the title, and then lost it so spectacularly. At least Bentt had an exhilarating win over Morrison to get the belt: at least Briggs had a brilliant come-from-behind KO to start his second reign - and a shoot-out fight with Lewis to lose his first reign..... etc etc. Any champion who made a defence, no matter how ropey it may have been, is one-up on Martin. Anyone who cleanly won their title, or at least went the distance for a disputed-points-decision, is one up on Martin.

For Martin to win the title on a freak injury, in only the second round.....and then lose his title by spectacular KO in the second round of his maiden defence: I'd say it's hard to find someone who has done "worse" to earn their status.

Not his fault though: right place, right time.

Best wishes,

"T.M.K"

[Chepppaaa]

ruiz, the guy that martin won aginst, what was his name gradovich?? byrd, chagaev....all very weak titleholder to me.

Byrd and Chagaev were decent HWs in their respective primes, much better than Martin, Morrison, Lyakhovich and Bentt.

Glazkov who was injured in the fight with Martin never had a world title.

morrison isnt that bad. he had a day off against bentt. i think morrison would beat leon spinks realy...

[Syntax Error]

ruiz, the guy that martin won aginst, what was his name gradovich?? byrd, chagaev....all very weak titleholder to me.

Byrd and Chagaev were decent HWs in their respective primes, much better than Martin, Morrison, Lyakhovich and Bentt.

Glazkov who was injured in the fight with Martin never had a world title.

morrison isnt that bad. he had a day off against bentt. i think morrison would beat leon spinks realy...

Morrison would have annihilated Leon Spinks.

His Left hook would have torn Leon's afro from his head!

[Chepppaaa]

Byrd and Chagaev were decent HWs in their respective primes, much better than Martin, Morrison, Lyakhovich and Bentt.

Glazkov who was injured in the fight with Martin never had a world title.

morrison isnt that bad. he had a day off against bentt. i think morrison would beat leon spinks realy...

Morrison would habe annihilated Leon Spinks.

His Left hook would have torn Leon's afro from his head!

[forestbox]

Stiverne has to be on the list

[Tony1244]

I'm not sure! Talk about letting yourself, your fans, and your country down... I think he just froze on the big stage in another country, and simply cashed his cheque! Either way it was a disgusting performance from a hard hitting, big talking, tricky southpaw, who should have caused Joshua more than enough problems! Love to hear what the yanks think/thought of him as they'd likely know more about him etc!

As a "yank" and a big HW fan, I sadly report that almost no Americans are aware of Joshua versus Martin. If I asked 100 Americans randomly, I'd be amazed if even 1 was familiar with the fight.

No honest and informative person considers Joshua-Martin a real title fight anyway. Joe Bugner was WBF champion. Monte Masters was WAA champion. Who? exactly.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Frans Botha and Hasim Rahman also worth a mention

Prime Rahman would destroy Martin.

He's underrated if they're working him into this conversation.

[tigermoth87]

I don't think Morrison should be mentioned. He at least beat Foreman for the belt. Granted, a way past his best Foreman but, Foreman went on to pick up the IBF and WBA titles so he wasn't completely shot. It's still a solid win. Which is more than can be said for some chumps who picked up their belts from nothing fighters.

[asdfjkl]

The names I see above indeed and David Haye.

Good call. David Haye should definitely be on any "worst heavyweight titleholder" list.

I know, he had a shitload of luck during his cherrypicks, but never really won against a prime top contender

[Lennox]

I think Charles Martin is probably the worst.

Michael Bent might be next. Most of the others at least won some meaningful fights before becoming champion, these two if you discount the Glazkov fight did not. Martin's best opponent before Glazkov was only ranked 77 pre fight. Michael Bent only had Mark Wills on his resume, but Wills was probable top 50 at the time of the fight. Bent was ranked 66 pre fight and is the lowest pre-fight ranked heavyweight to ever win a world title.

http://www.premierboxingorganisation.co ... EAVYWEIGHT