Charles Martin is an American southpaw and former IBF world heavyweight champion. Born on 24 April 1986, he is 40. Associated with St Louis and later California, he turned professional in 2012 and built his early career through American heavyweight bouts before reaching the world-title stage.
His boxing has often centred on the threat of his left hand from the southpaw stance. At his best, he has been able to hurt opponents who move onto that punch or misjudge the distance. His career has also shown that a powerful heavyweight can face very different problems against fast combinations, pressure or an opponent who can recover after being knocked down.
Martin won the vacant IBF world heavyweight championship against Vyacheslav Glazkov in January 2016. The contest ended in the third round after Glazkov suffered a knee injury and could not continue. It was a world-title victory, although the unusual ending limited what the bout revealed about a sustained championship-level contest between the two men.
His first defence came against Anthony Joshua in London in April 2016. Joshua knocked him out in the second round and took the IBF championship. Martin’s reign was brief, but his status as a former IBF world champion remains part of his career history. That title should not be confused with an IBF International or another regional belt.
Martin resumed winning after the Joshua defeat, then lost a ten-round unanimous decision to Adam Kownacki in September 2018. He subsequently beat Gregory Corbin and Daniel Martz in 2019 and stopped Gerald Washington in the sixth round in February 2020.
The Washington victory was a useful heavyweight result against an experienced former world-title challenger. It restored some momentum after the Kownacki setback, but it did not give Martin another world championship. His subsequent career remained that of a former champion seeking significant opportunities in the contender ranks.
Martin faced Luis Ortiz on 1 January 2022. He scored knockdowns before Ortiz recovered and stopped him in the sixth round. The fight captured both the danger of Martin’s punching and the difficulty of converting that danger into victory against an experienced opponent.
A fourth-round knockout of Devin Vargas followed in September 2022. In July 2023 he stepped in against Jared Anderson and lost a ten-round unanimous decision in Toledo. The Anderson appearance was a genuine heavyweight boxing contest against an ascending professional contender, rather than a novelty event.
Martin returned with a first-round stoppage of Matthew McKinney in November 2024. His next verified meaningful heavyweight contest was against Efe Ajagba at Meta APEX in Las Vegas on 15 February 2026.
Ajagba won by technical knockout in round four. Martin began competitively before Ajagba’s pressure and knockdowns brought the stoppage. The Ajagba–Martin fight and fourth-round stoppage report are the latest completed heavyweight result in his verified chronology. The local bout date was 15 February; the event’s UTC timestamp falls on 16 February.
His retained professional record is 30 wins, five defeats and one draw, with 27 knockout wins. Older sanctioning-body profile headers do not include the full later chronology and should not be substituted for that established total.
No official next bout is confirmed. Next fight remains TBA. Periods without a bout do not, by themselves, establish retirement, and no unsupported current IBF ranking is attached to his profile. His historical IBF championship and subsequent heavyweight contests provide the appropriate context for assessing his career.
Historical full fight: Martin vs Washington, Las Vegas, 22 February 2020. The provider still lists this archive; playback may depend on browser availability.
Historical post-fight interview following Martin’s February 2020 victory over Gerald Washington.
Premier Boxing Champions archive: Martin vs Martz, 13 July 2019.
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