Frank Martin: Lightweight Career and WBA Title Challenge
Frank “The Ghost” Martin is an American boxer whose professional career developed at lightweight before a move into the 140-pound division. His record includes victories over Michel Rivera, Artem Harutyunyan and Rances Barthelemy, together with a WBA lightweight title challenge against Gervonta Davis.
Career and championship record
Martin grew up in Detroit and Fort Wayne, Indiana, participating in football and wrestling before taking up boxing in his late teens. He later trained at Indianapolis’s Sarge Johnson Boxing Center. His amateur achievements included the 2016 National Golden Gloves championship at 141 pounds, when he defeated Vergil Ortiz Jr. in the final. Contemporary accounts connect his “Ghost” nickname with a hotel power outage during preparations for that tournament.
On December 17, 2022, Martin faced unbeaten contender Michel Rivera at The Chelsea in Las Vegas. He scored a seventh-round knockdown and won a twelve-round unanimous decision in a WBA lightweight eliminator. The judges favored him 120–107, 118–109 and 117–110. The result moved Martin farther into the division’s championship picture.
Another eliminator followed against Olympic bronze medalist Harutyunyan at the same venue on July 15, 2023. Martin rallied late, scoring a knockdown in the final round and winning a unanimous decision. That victory left him unbeaten in eighteen professional bouts before his first world-title opportunity.
Martin challenged Davis at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on June 15, 2024. Davis retained the WBA lightweight championship by knockout at 1:29 of the eighth round. Martin’s first professional defeat ended the unbeaten run that had carried him through the two eliminator victories.
He returned at super lightweight on December 6, 2025, knocking out former two-division champion Rances Barthelemy in the fourth round in San Antonio. Buddy McGirt worked his corner for the first time. A later ten-round contest against Nahir Albright in Las Vegas on February 21, 2026, ended in a draw, according to PBC’s record. That profile listed Martin at nineteen wins, one loss and one draw after the contest, with thirteen knockout victories.
Sources
Additional sources: https://www.reviewjournal.com/sports/boxing/unbeaten-lightweight-frank-martin-eyes-push-toward-title-2695882/; https://www.premierboxingchampions.com/bouts/384919; https://www.premierboxingchampions.com/bouts/434585; https://content.premierboxingchampions.com/press-center/pdf/6-15%20Results%20Release.pdf; https://www.premierboxingchampions.com/news/829683
- https://www.premierboxingchampions.com/fighters/166510
- https://www.premierboxingchampions.com/videos/284782
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