FORMER IBF heavyweight champion Charles Martin suffered a brutal knockout loss in his clash with Luis Ortiz.
Martin – whose reign as IBF champ was ended by Anthony Joshua – locked horns with King Kong in California early this morning.
The St Louis slugger made a great start to the contest, dropping Ortiz in the first and fourth rounds with a couple of sneaky right hands.
But a nasty straight left from Ortiz in the sixth badly dazed Martin, who was swarmed by the Cuban before he slumped into the ropes.
Boxing fans were quick to react to Ortiz’s stunning stoppage victory, with one saying: “I hope Martin is okay. That punch paused him.”
Another said: “He was like, ‘Did I lock my front door?'”
And another said: That punch from Ortiz caused Martin to glitch.”
One remarked: “He doesn’t know where he is.”
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Fans weren’t happy with the referee’s delayed stoppage of the action, with one saying: “That is dreadful, dangerous refereeing.”
Another said: “Ref has had a stinker here.”
The pair almost came to blows again after the fight when Ortiz shoved Martin following a heated protest of the stoppage.
Cooler heads, thankfully, prevailed.
Moments after the near melee, Ortiz said: “I told you this was going to be fireworks.
“He knocked me down twice, and at the end I finished him.
“I do respect him a lot. I was never worried. I just kept working the jab.
“Southpaw against southpaw is a difficult fight, but at the end, intelligence won it.”
Ortiz then sent a message to the rest of the stacked heavyweight division.
He said: “I have a message for every heavyweight in line for a world title: you don’t want to fight King Kong.”
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Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk