Charles Martin: 'All I need is 12 minutes' to KO Anthony Joshua in heavyweight title fight

After defeating Vyacheslav "Czar" Glazkov in January to take home the vacant IBF heavyweight title, Charles Martin could have gone the easy route for his first defense, knowing he could probably hold onto the belt for awhile.

Instead, he called out England's Anthony Joshua, the 2012 Olympic gold medalist who is undefeated as a professional at 15-0, all KOs. Joshua might be the fastest-rising heavyweight in the sport.

Martin went further, saying he would even go to England to fight Joshua, and that's where the April 9 fight will happen, at London's O2 Arena, live on Showtime (5 p.m. ET)

There are some who believe Martin has lost his mind, opting for such a tough matchup against the large, muscular and skilled Joshua, who is the eighth-ranked heavyweight in the Boxing Junkie rankings.

But the southpaw heavyweight insists he was not only in his right mind, but he's totally confident he will handle his business against Joshua. Martin also is receiving a career-high purse; life-altering money for a man who was fighting for peanuts just one year ago.

"I just wanted to make a statement, man," Martin (23-0-1, 21 KOs) told Paste BN Sports when asked why he chose Joshua. "Everybody thinks he's the best fighter, but we think otherwise. We see things other people don't see. The casual fan is going to automatically look at the exterior, when we know what's really going on. So that's the perfect fight, man, I'll beat that dude."

Joshua was shocked that Martin picked him, and quickly accepted.

"Normally you have to work your way up, but he called me," Joshua said. "What an opportunity that is. The heavyweight champion of the world calling me out and saying he wants to fight me? Let's rock 'n roll."

Lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury was stripped of the IBF title when he had no choice but to rematch Wladimir Klitschko instead of taking his mandatory against Glazkov (there was a rematch clause in the contract).The Ukrainian ended up fighting Martin for the vacant title but blew out his knee in the third round and was unable to continue, though it must be noted that Martin was winning the fight when it ended.

Fury, never at a loss for words, said he thought Martin, being a southpaw, would give Joshua all kinds of style problems and would beat the Brit.

"I don't know what he's talking about," Martin said of Fury. "He's cool. But anyway, there's really nobody out there that can emulate me. In his sparring, (Joshua) is not getting the looks that I'm gonna bring when we fight."

Vyacheslav Glazkov, of Ukraine, left, and Charles Martin fight during the second round of their IBF heavyweight title boxing match on Jan. 16 in New York. Martin stopped Glazkov in the third round. (AP Photo by Frank Franklin II)

Martin does agree with Fury that his southpaw style will be something Joshua has seen little of in his short but sparkling career.

"No matter what people think, at the end of the day, I've been boxing right-handers for 10 years," he said. "Every now and then you get a southpaw in the gym. He won't see it. They're all right-handers. He's not going to see my left hand when I start firing. He's not going to see a lot of stuff."

Martin, born in St. Louis and now living in Southern California, said his approach to the fight will be simple.

"Just to win," he said. "I don't complicate this because it's not rocket science or anything. It's not open heart surgery. Just boxing in its simplest form, just keeping it simple."

Martin has gotten little love since the fight was announced. He will come into the title bout as a 3-1 underdog. But he believes Joshua is overrated, which is one of the reasons he picked the muscular Brit.

"Him winning that gold medal, it was in London, and he got gifted that because he wasn't beating those guys," Martin said. "There were some fights that I watched and it didn't look like he dominated the fights. He doesn't do nothing too impressive.

"I'm confident, man, I'm in shape I'm ready to go. I don't care what he do now. It's too late, he took the fight and he's got to deal with this grown man right here. So, it's too late for him."

Martin has stopped all but three of his opponents, which doesn't quite stack up to Joshua's 100% knockout rate. But the fighter nicknamed "Prince" insists he has it over Joshua in every way possible.

"I'm just overall a greater person than he is. I'm a mean dude," he told Paste BN Sports. "And I've got more heart than him. At the end of the day, it's all about heart, man. When you take a shot, for a little split second in your heart, it's like, am I going to fight or am I going to fold up? When some guys get hit, they get scared. The fear comes. When you get hit with a good punch, you know, people get scared and they fold up."

Joshua could have folded up against his last opponent, Dillian Whyte, another Londoner who had Joshua hurt in the second round of their fight in December. Instead, Joshua composed himself and went on to pound White into submission the seventh round, the furthest he's ever been taken in a fight in his career. Joshua only has 32 professional rounds under his belt compared to 74 for Martin.

Eddie Hearn, Joshua's promoter, believes his fighter is well on his way to becoming the No. 1 heavyweight attraction in the world, which is why he took the fight against Martin.

"You know, Charles Martin's never been hit on the chin. Anthony Joshua has," the Matchroom Sport CEO noted. "And the Dillian Whyte fight will end up being a blessing for Anthony Joshua. So you've got two 6-foot-5 guys, one big, awkward southpaw with a huge backhand. Another guy with the fastest hands I've seen in the heavyweight division for a long time and a total disregard for what's coming back at him. Actually so much so, I've never seen a man unload in front of another man like this since Mike Tyson. But, we got to be smart because this time there's going to be something coming back."

Martin understands what he's up against and whether it's false bravado or not, he remains totally confident going into the fight. Joshua predicts he will end the fight in the sixth round. Martin thinks neither fighter will hear the bell for the sixth round.

"I'm going to knock him out in four," said Martin, who is seldom given to predictions. "All I need is 12 minutes."

(Photo of Martin, left, and Joshua by Matt Dunham, Associated Press)