Showtime Sports has released an early look at a video feature showcasing top lightweight contender Frank “The Ghost” Martin’s championship mentality and quiet intensity that has led him to the doorstep of his first world title opportunity that will air during tonight’s (July 16) Showtime Championship Boxing telecast from The Chelsea at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.
Martin will display that sharp focus and his top-shelf skills tonight as he battles Olympic bronze medalist Artem Harutyunyan in a WBC lightweight title eliminator in the main event of a tripleheader that kicks off at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT on Showtime.
In the video feature, the rising star details his humble beginnings in the sport when he was an unknown prospect and describes the origins of his friendship and working relationship with unified welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr., his promoter, and ESPN’s 2022 Trainer of the Year Derrick James. Frank, who started boxing at the late age of 18, has made up for lost time in part by training alongside the likes of Spence, undisputed super welterweight champion Jermell Charlo, former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua and lightweight star Ryan Garcia in Dallas in one of the greatest collection of fighters under one trainer’s roof. Martin has impressed his stablemates with his work ethic, humble attitude and hunger to be great.
Frank Martin: I’m gonna bring the dog out this fight
“Everybody is on a different level,” says the Indianapolis resident Martin in the clip, produced by Nick Manning. “You got champions, you got fighters on the way up, but everybody is a hard worker so being around that, we just all feed off of each other. Those guys feel the same way.”
“That’s why I like this gym,” Joshua tells the Showtime team. “You have to be amongst serious fighters if you want to be a serious fighter.”
“Derrick is like a [Gregg] Popovich. I’m like Tim Duncan and Frank is like a Tony Parker,” says Spence, chuckling as he compared his team to the San Antonio Spurs dynasty.
Looking ahead to tonight’s matchup, the normally soft-spoken Martin sent a warning shot to the rest of the lightweight division. “Everybody at 135 better stay on point,” he says in the feature. “I’m gonna bring the dog out this fight. I’m going to go out this fight, and I’m going to dominate. This ain’t gonna be the nice Ghost.”
Tonight’s Showtime Championship Boxing telecast begins immediately following Episode Two of All Access: Spence vs. Crawford at 9:30 p.m. ET/6:30 p.m. PT on Showtime. The tripleheader also features top super lightweight contender Elvis Rodriguez taking on former world champion Viktor Postol in the co-main event, plus hard-hitting welterweight prospect Freudis Rojas battling Mexico’s Diego Sanchez in the telecast opener.
Veteran sportscaster Brian Custer will host the telecast while versatile combat sports voice Mauro Ranallo will handle the blow-by-blow action alongside Hall of Fame analyst Al Bernstein and three-division world champion Abner Mares. Three Hall of Famers round out the telecast team – Emmy-winning reporter Jim Gray, world-renowned ring announcer Jimmy Lennon, Jr., and boxing historian Steve Farhood, who will serve as unofficial scorer. The executive producer is four-time Emmy Award winner David Dinkins, Jr. The producer is Ray Smaltz III and the director is Chuck McKean. Sportscaster Alejandro Luna will call the action in Spanish on Secondary Audio Programming (SAP) with former world champion and ShoBox: The New Generation commentator Raul “El Diamante” Marquez serving alongside him as the expert analyst.
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