Shakur Stevenson has made several media appearances where he expressed his disappointment at Frank Martin’s withdrawal from the planned fight with Stevenson for the vacant WBC title. Most prominently, Stevenson’s appearance on renowned sports presenter Brian Custer’s The Last Stand allowed him to address the matter of Martin’s withdrawal from his bout with Stevenson.
When asked on what had happened with the cancellation of the fight, Shakur Stevenson (20-0, 10 KO’s) was candid on his point of view on how the fight collapsed:
“I think Frank Martin got cold feet,” Stevenson stated bluntly after a question by Brian Custer on The Last Stand surrounding Stevenson’s thoughts on Frank Martin’s (18-0, 12 KO’s) withdrawal.
“Before the fight was signed, everything sounded good, but once the fight came to fruition, I feel like he got real nervous and didn’t want to fight no more.
“His excuse and his reasoning, he will tell you that there wasn’t enough money but truthfully speaking it was quadruple more than he ever made in his entire career.“
Frank Martin was reportedly set to earn $1,000,000 if he had faced Shakur Stevenson. Martin’s last known purse reportedly netted him $75,000 when he faced Michel Rivera (24-1, 14 KO’s) in what became a unanimous decision (UD) win for Martin. It is not publicly known how much Martin got paid in his last fight against Artem Harutyunyan (12-1, 7 KO’s), but Stevenson seemed confident that Martin might have raked in $250,000 as his highest purse, which quadrupled would make $1,000,000.
“The highest numbers that he [Martin] made throughout his career was $250,000,” Stevenson later revealed during the interview.
“He would have fought for a world title, and he would have made a million dollars [against Stevenson]. $250,000 times four gives you a million dollars, and that would have been the most money he ever made in his career.“
Stevenson’s information regarding Martin’s earnings likely stem from his promoter Top Rank, who had conducted the negotiations of the now-cancelled match between Martin and Stevenson, on Stevenson’s behalf.
Roughly two weeks after Martin’s supposed withdrawal, his promoter PBC and the WBC — responsible for sanctioning and approving the title fight between Martin and Stevenson for the vacant WBC lightweight title, have yet to make an official statement to confirm Martin’s withdrawal.
However, the absence of communication from Martin, his associates, and the WBC may reasonably be interpreted as confirmation of his withdrawal from the planned fight with Shakur Stevenson.
When Stevenson was asked on why he thought Frank Martin pulled out, Stevenson did not shy away from giving his own cold-hard opinion on Martin’s apparent withdrawal.
“I don’t think fighters want to lose. I think that deep-down inside he knows I am one of the best fighters in boxing,” Stevenson asserted.
“I don’t think he wanted to lose. When it came down to it, if he was going to take a L, he’d want to make ten times more than he ever made in his career. I guess four times is not enough.“
While Frank Martin, the PBC and the WBC continue to remain silent on this matter until the announcement of Stevenson’s next fight, Martin’s reputation in boxing is likely to further decline as it becomes increasingly more clear that he avoided Shakur Stevenson — all while passing up a world title opportunity and a highest-career payday.
There are opportunities for Frank Martin to redeem himself in the future, but as it stands, he is proven to not be worthy of an opportunity of a world title by not clarifying his withdrawal. The combined efforts of the WBC and the PBC in refusing to be transparent is also not helping case, and only further results in his reputation as a fighter declining as neither party takes accountability or responsibility for Martin’s still-unconfirmed withdrawal from his bout with Shakur Stevenson.
