LAS VEGAS – Frank Martin made the most of the biggest opportunity of his five-year pro career Saturday night.
The skillful, strong southpaw soundly beat Michel Rivera by unanimous decision in a 12-round battle between unbeaten lightweight contenders at The Chelsea inside The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. Martin knocked Rivera to the canvas in the seventh round, consistently landed the harder punches and displayed the elusiveness defensively that has earned him the nickname “The Ghost.”
Martin, whose footwork made matters very difficult for Rivera, won by large margins on the scorecards of judges Tim Cheatham (120-107), Dave Moretti (117-110) and Steve Weisfeld (118-109).
The 27-year-old Martin, who was born in Detroit and raised in Fort Wayne, Indiana, improved to 17-0 (12 KOs). The Dominican Republic’s Rivera slipped to 24-1 (14 KOs).
Martin’s victory, which Showtime televised as the main event of a three-bout broadcast, will move him up in the lightweight rankings, closer to a title shot.
The 24-year-old Rivera entered the ring ranked No. 2 among the WBA’s lightweight contenders. The Miami resident is also ranked sixth by the IBF, ninth by the WBC and 10th by the WBO.
Martin, 27, is ranked 10th by the WBA. He is not rated, however, in the top 15 by the IBF, WBC or WBO.
An aggressive Martin attempted to close the show with a knockout in the 12th round, but the tough Rivera took his best shots and made it to the final bell.
Martin missed with left uppercut early in the 11th round, which led to Rivera drilling him with a straight right hand.
Martin controlled the action again throughout the 10th round, though he didn’t land as many flush punches on Rivera in those three minutes as he did during many of the prior rounds.
Martin nailed Rivera with a straight left that moved Rivera into the ropes late in the ninth round. Martin defended himself well throughout that round and continued to frustrate Rivera.
A crafty Martin landed a left hand that turned Rivera around with 1:05 on the clock in the eighth round. Martin previously hit Rivera with a left to his body barely a minute into the eighth round.
Martin drilled Rivera with a left hand that took Rivera’s legs out from under him and sent him to the canvas with 31 seconds to go in the seventh round. Rivera answered Bayless’ count pretty quickly and didn’t seem badly hurt.
Martin rocked Rivera with a counter left hand about 55 seconds into the seventh round.
Rivera slipped several of Martin’s punches during the sixth round. He continued to have trouble catching the elusive Martin with clean punches, though.
A left hand by Martin knocked Rivera into the ropes with just over 20 seconds to go in the fifth round.
Martin’s straight left backed up Rivera with just over 30 seconds on the clock in the fourth round. About 20 seconds later, Martin’s left uppercut caught Rivera.
A straight left by Martin landed as Rivera moved straight back with just under 10 seconds on the clock in the third round.
Rivera connected with a left to the side of Martin’s head 40 seconds into the third round. A right hand by Rivera made Martin move away from him several seconds later.
Martin landed a left to the body early in the third round.
Two left-right combinations by Martin made Rivera hold him by his head with just under 1:40 on the clock in the second round.
With about 15 seonds to go in the opening round, Martin hit Rivera with a right hook as they spun out of a clinch. Bayless didn’t consider that an infraction and allowed the action to continue.
A straight left by Martin backed Rivera toward his own corner and caused him to hold Martin just before the midway mark of the first round.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.