Gurgen Hovhannisyan to face Charles Martin on Davis-Garcia undercard

Gurgen Hovhannisyan to face Charles Martin on Davis-Garcia undercard

Armenian heavyweight Gurgen Hovhannisyan will face former IBF champion Charles Martin on April 22 on the undercard of the Gervonta Davis-Ryan Garcia fight, according to BoxingScene.com. Hovhannisyan has won all four of his professional fights by knockout, with his last victory coming over Michael Coffie on the Deontay Wilder-Robert Helenius undercard in October 2021. Martin, who is 36 years old, has won four of his five fights since losing to Adam Kownacki in September 2018. Martin’s only loss since then came against Cuba’s Luis Ortiz in January 2022.

The fight between Hovhannisyan and Martin will be streamed on Showtime’s YouTube channel before the pay-per-view portion of the Davis-Garcia undercard begins at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Showtime is also expected to stream a 154-pound fight in which Vito Mielnicki Jr. will meet Elias Espadas before the pay-per-view show begins.

The matchup against Martin will be the toughest test of Hovhannisyan’s career. Martin, who is a strong southpaw, has mentioned rematches with Ortiz or Kownacki, or fights against Jared Anderson, Daniel Dubois, or Lenier Pero. This is a chance for the St. Louis native to knock off a highly regarded prospect, rather than continuing to wait for one of those fights to materialize.