Frank Martin KO’s Barthelemy in round 4

Frank ‘The Ghost’ Martin (19-0, 13 KOs) looked impressive, scoring a fourth-round knockout of Rances Barthelemy (30-4-1, 15 KOs) in light welterweight action Saturday night at the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas.

Return of ‘The Ghost’

Fighting for the first time since being knocked out by Gervonta Davis 18 months ago, Martin floored the 39-year-old Barthelemy with a perfectly placed left hand to the head in round four to get the KO. Barthelemy was badly hurt and could not get up even if he wanted to. The time of the stoppage was at 2:56 of round four.

Martin, 30, used plenty of movement to negate Barthelemy’s offense in rounds one through three, constantly turning to avoid his jabs and right hands. This worked well for ‘The Ghost’, but it also kept him from getting his own punches. It was unnecessary movement against this type of non-puncher.

Left Hand of Doom

In the fourth, Martin went to work, connecting with two lefts that dropped Barthelemy to the canvas. When he got up, and resumed the action, Martin hobo chased him, mostly on the guard of the Cuban.

Barthelemy smiled and motioned for Martin to continue attacking, which he did. Moments later, ‘The Ghost’ caught him with a telegraphed left to the jaw of Barthelemy, sending him back down face first to the canvas. There would be no getting up from that knockdown. The referee then waved it off when he saw that Rances was in no condition to return to his feet.