Saturday's IBF HevayTitle Fight Martin vs Joshua

So, how do we all see this going?

Joshua has been moved towards this from day 1 and he's on home soil. Will he be nervous? He had the pressure of a home Olympic final to deal with against the reigning Olympic champion. Whether you agree with the decision he received or not, that's a lot of pressure to be under. Has it come too early for Joshua? Jury's out on that one - one could argue that no, he needs a few more tough fights but on the flip side, you could also argue that you may as well throw him in now. He has the tools, he has the talent and it's a World Title bout at home against a relatively unfavoured champion.

What of Martin? Aside from being virtually unknown to all except the more dedicated boxing fan, Martin was gifted the vacant title due to an injury to his opponent Vyacheslav Glazkov in his last bout. Is he any good? It's difficult to say as there are no big names on his record; however, it may be that Martin has yet to show his best. He is after all a big southpaw with quick, heavy hands so should not be written off. Could he be like Wilder and be calm and measured rather than go for the KO like in the Stiverne fight? he's certainly going to be a bit different (and tougher) to anything Joshua's faced before.

I thought that even though Joshua was buzzed in the Whyte fight, he probably learned more from that fight than in his 14 previous fights. Chin? Clocked and checked. Calm under pressure? Check. Fitness? Check. Beating the amateur rival who decked him? Check. Confidence will be high in the Joshua camp. He hits very hard and has a perfect record, but whilst he's perceived as a "weak" belt holder, Martin will not (should not) be coming here to just lie down.

This could be a scorecards fight, but that does seem unlikely. Going with what I have seen of Joshua, he is likely to take his time and be sensible. He has seemed a step ahead of every opponent he's fought so far and I am not sure that Martin is the man to take his unbeaten record. I think this will be similar to the Whyte bout, in that it may be a bit bad-tempered and there will be plenty of big bombs landing. Someone's "0" has got to go - I believe that this will be Martin's, being rescued by the ref (hopefully not prematurely) by the end of the 6th round.