It was a strategy that was good enough to beat Mike Tyson twice.
So when former heavyweight titleholder Charles Martin makes his Zuffa Boxing debut Sunday night in the main event versus ranked contender Efe Ajagba, a time-honored fight plan will be leaned on.
Martin, 39, is trained by Henry Tillman, who won his 1984 Olympic gold medal by defeating Tyson twice in the Olympic Trials, applying a box-first style to edge the heavy-handed New Yorker, who would go on to reign as the famed world heavyweight champion.
“When you can move like a cruiserweight and hit like a heavyweight, it’s an amazing feeling,” Martin told BoxingScene. “That’s why we’ve got good chemistry. He keeps me on my toes, keeps me bouncing with that cruiserweight mentality while still having that heavyweight punch.
“It’s a great combination to be a puncher-boxer.”
At 6ft 5ins, Martin 30-4-1 (27 KOs), is used to being the taller fighter. That’s not the case against Nigeria’s 6ft 6ins Ajagba, 20-1-1 (14KOs), an imposing figure who remains ranked by the WBC and IBF, joking that he has been “ghosted” by the others.
“I’ve watched all his fights,” Martin said of Ajagba. “He’s a big, strong guy. That makes it better, because nobody can have any excuses when I knock him out or stop him.”
Ajagba has never been stopped, however.
“That’s pretty good. I’ve stopped a couple people in my career who’d never been stopped,” Martin said. “It’s like being the soul reaper taking that soul.
“No one can say, ‘He can’t get rid of a big dude.’ Since I’m so tall, when I win, a lot of people say, ‘He was supposed to win that fight.’ Not with him. I’m smaller and shorter. He’s a big dude, hits hard, is a dangerous dude – so it’ll be so much sweeter.”
Like Martin, who has fought only once since July 2023, Ajagba said he was drawn to Zuffa Boxing to gain increased activity, joining the recently launched promotion as a free agent.
Ajagba, whose career blemishes are a May draw against Martin Bakole in Saudi Arabia and a 2021 loss to Frank Sanchez, says he is seeking the Zuffa heavyweight belt when it becomes available and, by next year, a title shot.
“I don’t have respect for [Martin],” Ajagba said. “He’s the one who needs to respect me. I’m ready to prove it.”
Ajagba said the fact he has never been stopped underlines an important skill set.
“Not only can I take all their punches, I can move my head. I’m not going to stand there and take punches like most heavyweights do. I want to keep my face. The ones you don’t see – and that’s when the knockout comes – I see.”
It was Ajagba who was the opponent in 2018 when Curtis Harper memorably walked out of the ring just as the first bell rang, and Ajagba doubled down on his intimidating nature a few years later, wearing a stocking cap into the ring.
He laughed about that with BoxingScene, saying he couldn’t recall intending to strike a menacing pose.
He said his purpose on Sunday night is to shine in the showcase event at the Apex in Las Vegas and keep the bout out of the judges’ hands.
“I’m not focused on the knockout. It’s going to come. I’ll touch him and touch him, and wear him out,” Ajagba said. “I just want to punish him a little bit and see what he’s got. I can’t wait for Sunday night. I just want to see that.”
Martin, meanwhile, said his layoff has been restorative.
“Before, I was getting hit with so much money,” Martin said. “I lost focus of the big picture. This time around, hey, don’t let anything change. I’m still going to wake up and do what I did yesterday. That’s the thing – the discipline.
“I’ve been training, but not getting hit, and that’s always a good thing, right? Protect the nervous system.”
Martin stood as IBF heavyweight titleholder briefly in 2016, losing the belt three months after he won it by getting knocked out by Anthony Joshua at London’s 02 Arena.
His other losses are to Adam Kownacki, Luis Ortiz and Jared Anderson.
Martin said his ticking career clock and grasp of the moment should lead him to defeat Ajagba.
“I don’t see how it’s going to last 10 rounds. If I’m hitting you enough times, how are you going to be able to stand up?” Martin said. “Guys who are elusive, I’ve had problems with. Kownacki survived only because I came in the heaviest in my career at 272 pounds, dropping to 240. I didn’t have the power to knock him out in that firefight. Now, I can punch again for real.”
Like Ajagba, Martin said the uncertainty of who Zuffa will still add to its roster and its reach to place him against the division’s best are promising.
“I’ll fight anybody. I feel I’ve stood the test of time,” Martin said. “I would tear any of these dudes up. Put me in the ring with anybody, and see what’s up.”
Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.
