The bookies make Anthony Joshua, the challenger, their 1/7 favourite to win the fight. Charles Martin, who beat Vyacheslav Glazkov to win the world title in his last fight, is rated a 9/2 shot to defend his belt – with the draw is available at 33/1.
“Fighting for the Heavyweight World title has been a dream of mine since I turned professional,” said Joshua. “I feel privileged to have the opportunity to turn that dream in to reality. Not only that, having the chance to fight for it in my home town at The O2 and live on Sky Sports is unbelievably exciting. Charles Martin is a great fighter and a hungry competitor so I am going to have to produce the performance of my career to claim that belt.”
Charles Martin speaking “I’m World Champion, so that doesn’t mean just sit back and make easy defences in the US, it means facing the biggest challenges out there. I respect Anthony Joshua and everything he has accomplished, but on April 9 he’s getting knocked out.”
“Anthony Joshua has long been built up as a future world champion – now he’s got his chance to live up to the hype,” said William Hill spokesman Tony Kenny, “AJ is our red-hot favourite to claim the title but ‘Prince’ Charles Martin has knocked out 21 of his 24 previous opponents and shouldn’t be underestimated.”
Latest bout odds: (William Hill bet) 1/7 Anthony Joshua, 9/2 Charles Martin, 33/1 Draw
Round betting: Joshua: 8/1 Round 1, 7/1 Round 2, 7/1 Round 3, 7/1 Round 4, 8/1 Round 5, 10/1 Round 6, 12/1 Round 7, 14/1 Round 8, 20/1 Round 9, 22/1 Round 10, 28/1 Round 11, 40/1 Round 12,
Round betting: Martin: 33/1 Round 1, 28/1 Round 2, 28/1 Round 3, 28/1 Round 4, 33/1 Round 5, 40/1 Round 6, 40/1 Round 7, 40/1 Round 8, 50/1 Round 9, 66/1 Round 10, 80/1 Round 11, 100/1 Round 12,
On points: 4/1 Joshua, 14/1 Martin
