Interviews
EXCLUSIVE: Martin Harkin – Following in his father’s footsteps
“This is what I have dreamed of since I was a little boy. This is the stage I want to be on to show what I can do, and I think my life will change if I go out there on Saturday night, put on a good performance and steal the show.”
That Saturday night could be the life-changing moment for Martin Harkin. The Scot returns from defeat to a straight British title eliminator against Kaisee Benjamin live on Channel 5.
Harkin was last seen last October fighting Michael McKinson, a fighter he believes has the potential to rise to the top.
“I lost my last fight, it was a needy performance and I was really disappointed.” Harkin told proboxing-fans.com.
“I took the fight because the guy was second-ranked in the UK, no one wanted to fight him, they were trying to get an opponent and everyone was turning it around, so I took the fight. I want to beat the best players in the league, I want to be the best.
“He is a very good and effective fighter. He is sneaky, he seems to bring fighters down to his pace of fighting.
“He’s very hard to hit cleanly, he’s very clumsy, he’s not the strongest hitter, but I think he’ll go far with his style, that clumsy southpaw. Any fighter will tell you that they hate fighting with clumsy southpaws.
Losing an unbeaten record is a bitter pill to swallow for any fighter and with hindsight the 29-year-old from Dumbarton states that a major part of his defeat was his preparation, or lack thereof.
“I have never had much sparring since my last fight, I have done less than 24 rounds of sparring.
“Sparring is the best preparation for a fight. It’s the closest thing to a reenactment of a fight, and I had never sparred that much before my last fight. I was well prepared, to some extent only because of the lack of sparring.
“This time it was different, I was in the south. I sparred Ohara Davies, in this fight I sparred Mason Cartwright, and most recently I sparred Lewis Ritson.
“I did well against them in sparring, they are top-class players and I rate them very highly.”
The silver lining to this defeat was that Harkin was now cleared to fight Benjamin in an eliminator for the British title, currently held by Chris Jenkins, a belt that had always been held in high regard by the Harkin family.
“It means the world to me. I’ve always said this since I turned pro and when I got into boxing, I would love to fight for the Lonsdale belt, the British title.
“My dad fought for this as a pro and for me it’s just personal. I think a win here at the weekend would definitely skyrocket me and as I’m a British title qualifier it’s a great opportunity for me.”
Martin’s father, Robert Harkin, fought as a professional from 1984 to 1990, unsuccessfully challenging Pat Barrett, Zelfa Barrett’s uncle, for the British title in October 1989.
Growing up with a father who was the Scottish Super Lightweight Champion, Martin was always drawn to physical sports.
“That’s basically how I got interested in boxing from an early age. You see a lot of fathers who play football and instill it in their children. My situation was that my dad was a boxer, so I just fell in love with it from a youthful age.
“My dad doesn’t train me, but he will give me tips and advice based on the positions he’s been in. He likes to give me this knowledge and facilitate me in my career.
“It’s second to none. I think that maybe many players should learn on their own, and of course I have to do that in my career, but it’s good to have a little insight into managerial and promoter issues, and which coaches deal with corruption, which some players learn about first-hand.
“Being a professional has benefited me greatly.”
It will soon be Harkin’s turn to fight for the British title, but first he must defeat Birmingham’s Kaisee Benjamin.
“He’s a really good fighter from what I’ve seen from him. I don’t watch much of my opponents’ previous fights. I usually focus on myself and make sure I’m prepared.
“But my coach watches a lot of material about fighters, if he can download it from YouTube, and there are a lot of my opponents on YouTube, he has some good fights there.
“He’s a good fighter, he’s got some good wins and he’s on a good streak.”
A very respectful attitude towards the opponent, but on fight night everything will be taken care of and Harkin will simply come for the victory.
“I’m always confident. I have a good feeling about this fight. I’ve been preparing for this for 12 weeks.
“I’ve put a lot of strenuous work and sacrifice into this, so I won’t accept anything less than winning.
“I just want to win convincingly on this platform, that’s all I’ve been thinking about since I signed this fight.
“I am extremely confident, every fighter should be like that.”
Natasha Jonas unified the welterweight division by defeating Ivana Habazin by clear points on Saturday to add the WBC title to her IBF crown at the Exhibition Center in Liverpool.
Jonas (16-2-1, 9 KO) was last seen defending her title in January in a hard-fought split decision over Mikaela Mayer, while Habazin (23-6, 7 KO) won the vacant WBC welterweight title in her home country. time out, winning by wide points over Kinga Magyar.
After a technical opening round, Jonas settled into a steady rhythm before landing a powerful right hand in the fourth round that crushed Habazin.
There was a rivalry, but the home favorite was much better in the rallies and seemed to be losing round after round.
This situation lasted until the final bell, when Jonas became the winner by scores of 100-90, 99-91 and 99-92.
Price is closing in on Jonas’ match
Lauren Price definitely stayed on as a collision course with Jonas and easily defended her WBA and IBO welterweight titles after a third-round fight against Bexcy Mateus.
Mateus (7-1, 6 KO) was on board in the first round, after the Welshman landed a powerful left hand, and the Colombian struggled to match Price’s speed.
The same shot caused the 29-year-old to repeat the punch in the second round, and the round later ended when another stinging left hand stunned Meteus and she fell to the canvas, after which the fight was stopped.
Price (8-0, 2 KO) has agreed to face Jonas next, and promoter Ben Shalom revealed it could be announced next week.
Knife edge passes McKenna
Lee Cutler scored an upset victory to claim the silver WBC International welterweight title after winning a majority decision against Stephen McKenna.
McKenna (15-1, 14 KO) was eliminated in the first round, his knee touching the canvas after being tagged, and Cutler (15-1, 7 KO) took full advantage of his opponent’s weakness in the seventh round when his right hand plunged into his knee. The Irishman who ultimately fell once again.
McKenna was relentless in his attacks and landed a huge number of punches.
The balance of 94-94 was surpassed by the scores of 95-93 and 96-92, which ensured the victory for Cutler.
Jeffers stopped Quartey
Mark Jeffers is on track for large fights in 2025 after defeating Joshua Quartey to defend his silver Commonwealth super middleweight title.
A pair of right hands put Quartey (10-1, 9 KO) on the board, and although he broke the count, a well-placed body shot after the restart by Jeffers (19-0, 6 KO) blew the guy away again.
A crazy attack after the restart forced a stoppage.
Riley secures Chamberlain’s face-off with a stoppage
Viddal Riley finished the heavyweight fight and stopped Dan Garber in the second of the scheduled six rounds.
Riley (12-0, 7 KO) hit Garber (7-4, 2 KO) with his right hand, and then his next attack forced the referee’s intervention.
Riley’s next match will be against Isaac Chamberlain on February 1.
Undercard remaining
Mason Cartwright (21-4-1, 8 KO) won all six rounds at super welterweight against Dzmitry Atrokhau (16-25, 7 KO), and Hope lightweight Frankie Stringer (9-0, 1 KO) did the same in the fight against Tatenda Mangombe (3-9-1).
In the flyweight division, Mikie Tallon (6-0) defeated Benn Norman (7-7) with a body shot in the first round of the match, and then settled for a 59-54 victory.
The only fighter to fight four rounds in the super featherweight division was Mason Devine (6-0, 1 KO), who won every session against Jayo Fernando Duran (15-34-1, 14 KO).
Dillian Whyte has revealed his predictions for the hotly anticipated rematch between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury on December 21.
Fury, who knocked out Whyte at Wembley Stadium in 2022, will seek revenge for the only defeat of his career in just 11 days, after losing to Usyk by split decision earlier this year.
Despite losing the night, “The Gypsy King” was a major success and many are struggling to pick a winner in his second battle against the imperious Ukrainian.
Some experts believe Fury needs to be more aggressive and take the lead if he is to win.
I’m talking to Social boxingWhyte revealed he shared that view, asking the Morecambe man to return to the game plan that saw him destroy Deontay Wilder in the return leg.
“It’s a great fight, man, I’m still trying to think – how will this fight go?
“Okay, Fury can make changes, but Usyk can make changes too. It’s a tough fight, a very, very tough fight for both fighters.
“If I were Fury’s coach, I would tell him he has to play aggressively.
“Fight him like you fought Wilder the second time.
“Bring back the aggression, bring back the tyrant!
“This is heavyweight boxing – you never know.”
It is unclear whether Fury will heed the advice of Whyte and others in the boxing world who have advised him to take the fight to Usyk, but looks noticeably heavier than before the first fight.
What are the changes? ❌@Tyson_Fury says he will exploit exactly the same game plan as the first time when he faces Oleksandr Usyk at the end of the month.
Thinks? 🧐 pic.twitter.com/VtpEwLJkWx
— Professional boxing fans (@ProBoxingFans) December 6, 2024
Win or lose, the 36-year-old could face a long-awaited home fight against Anthony Joshua, even though “A.J.” interrupted defeat against Daniel Dubois in September.
While it may not have been as great a spectacle as it once was, a clash between Joshua and Fury would still be by far the biggest all-British fight in recent memory.
As for Whyte, he returns to the ring next Sunday night and will face Ghanaian heavyweight Ebenezer Tetteh live on DAZN in Gibraltar.
The All-American fight between lightweight world champions Gervonta Davis and Shakur Stevenson is one of the most anticipated fights in all of boxing.
Both Davis and Stevenson are undefeated multi-weight champions and are staples on any respected pound-for-pound list.
With this in mind, you could be forgiven for assuming that the pair locking corners in their prime years is a given, but that doesn’t seem likely to happen in the near future.
“Tank” spoke to the media at the press conference inaugurating his performance March 1 fight with Lamont Roach, and when the prospect of fighting Stevenson arose, he didn’t seem particularly interested.
The Baltimore hitter even went so far as to question what his compatriot did to deserve him.
“What for? Who has Shakur [beat]? What did Shakur do?
“What has he achieved in sports? He didn’t do anything! Juvenile people look better than him!”
“Keyshawn [Davis] you look so much better than that nigga! Shout it out nigga, he ain’t done nothing!
I asked Gervonta about a possible fight with Shakur… #Box #TankRoach pic.twitter.com/T1eNFJ9iIO
— Dwa O Dwa Z.. (@Noo_Barzz) December 3, 2024
“Why the hell are you saying his name?”
Like Davis, Stevenson will also return to action in the first quarter of next year, fighting against up-and-comer Floyd Schofield on the February 22 Riyad season card.
The Newark southpaw has been sidelined since his July decision victory over Artem Harutyunyan after he had to withdraw from a proposed October fight with Joe Cordina due to injury.
Saudi boxing boss Turki Alalshikh has expressed his willingness to have a fight between the two virtuosos, provided both are successful in their upcoming fights.
‼️ His Excellency Turki Alalshikh stated that he wants the Gervonta Davis vs Shakur Stevenson fight: “My plan for Shakur is this fight [vs Floyd Schofield]then William Zepeda, and then let’s see if Tank wants to come on our show.” [@DAZNBoxing] pic.twitter.com/Mmi6hO7Fjo
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBenson) December 3, 2024
While he undoubtedly has the talent to rival Davis, Stevenson is not as commercial a star as his rival, and some critics believe he needs to start giving more entertaining performances if he wants to get substantial names.
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