Rising lightweight contender Frank Martin is scheduled to face Artem Harutyunyan on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
FRANK MARTIN (17-0, 12 KOs) VS.
ARTEM HARUTYUNYAN (12-0, 7 KOs)
- Date: Saturday, July 15
- Time: 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT (main event later in show)
- Where: The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas
- TV/Stream: Showtime
- Division: Lightweight (135 pounds)
- At stake: No major titles
- Odds: Martin 10-1 favorite (average of multiple outlets)
- Also on the card: Nonito Donaire vs. Alexandro Santiago, bantamweights (for vacant WBC title); Elvis Rodriguez vs. Viktor Postol, junior welterweights
- Prediction: Martin KO 9
- Background: Martin is in the process of working his way into the top group of 135-pounders. The gifted 28-year-old from Indianapolis is coming off his biggest victory, a one-sided decision over previously unbeaten Michel Rivera last December in Las Vegas. He’s ranked in the Top 7 by all four major sanctioning bodies, No. 2 by the WBA. Harutyunyan is a well-schooled boxer from Germany who won a bronze medal in the 2016 Olympics. However, Martin represents a significant step up in opposition for the 32-year-old. And Harutyunyan, who lives in Hamburg, has never fought outside his home country. He last fought in June of last year, when he easily outpointed Humberto Galindo in Hamburg.
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