Central Insider: Martin takes gloves off on boxing career

Having been a part of the Manchester Central family since 2016, Kaine Martin has seen it all in the white and black; but after suffering a nasty injury in late 2018, the Central star used his recovery period to discover another sporting talent he possesses in the boxing ring.

With aims to go professional in the ring in just a few years time, we spoke to Kaine about his progression from injured footballer to boxing sensation, and how the two sports have complemented each other on his road to recovery.

Having suffered a nasty knee injury while on the football pitch, Martin was looking for a way to re-build his match fitness and found the hard work and physically demanding world of boxing to be his perfect rehab.

“I’d suffered quite a bad injury to my knee playing football and needed to find a way to get back to full fitness when coming back and found boxing a really useful way of recovering to get back out on the pitch.”

Kaine Martin post surgery

Having jumped in the ring to fight his way back onto the pitch, Martin began to realise he had a real passion for boxing, and rather than throwing in the towel once his recovery was complete, decided to continue with his boxing career along-side his footballing exploits.

“Originally the plan was just to get back to fitness but there’s just no other training like it and I decided to stick at it.

“In terms of fitness there’s no training comes close to the boxing drills so I’ve carried on with it and I can really feel the difference it’s made to the way I get on.”

Back to full fitness and thriving both in the gym and on the pitch, Kaine is delighted with how the boxing training has also given him the edge playing football.

“Boxing has really helped me work on my discipline on the pitch and of course the fitness. It’s one of the most disciplined sports I’ve ever done and I definitely think that’s reflected in my performances on the pitch.

“It’s one of the fittest sports there is and that’s also given me the edge on the football pitch. I’ve had my performances recorded using the gps vests and my average running this season has been between 12km and 14km.

“The boxing has definitely improved my match fitness and it’s given me the ability to just fly around the pitch. Against Elton Vale I managed to rack up 15km which is far more than I would’ve been able to do before I started boxing.”

As well as the health benefits Martin has seen, since starting boxing it’s the vast array of venues and environments that more than anything have captured his imagination in the sport.

“I’ve been all over the country boxing now, whether it’s in a small garage boxing gym all the way up to some professional venues.

“The AJ Bell stadium jumps out for me as the nicest place I’ve fought but I’ve had big fancy town halls right the way down to back street gyms. The variety of venues you find is great but you know no matter where you’re fighting it’s you against the other guy and that’s all that matters.”

With football taking a break over the summer Kaine has recently thrown himself into his fighting and is reaping the rewards, narrowly missing out on a place in the North-West Regional Semi-Finals by split decision.

“Between April and May I had three fights in six weeks which in the world of boxing is an extremely busy schedule. I’ll always take a fight when I can as it keeps me fit and active and especially when you’re winning it’s important to keep that momentum going.

“I fought in the regional quarter finals recently and lost out on a split decision. I thought I boxed well and stopped the guy twice so to lose was really disappointing but he was a much more experienced fighter and is now in the final so there’s no shame in losing to someone like that.

“I’m just trying to get as much experience in the ring as possible and having taken a little break after that loss to rest up and recover properly I’m hoping to be back out by the end of October and re-enter the competitive space at the start of next year.”

Looking back on boxers throughout history, Kaine has pinpointed his idols based on his own style as well as their level of entertainment.

“I look at fighters like Tommy Hearne and I like to style myself on the way he fought because we’ve got a similar stance, height and weight-class. Then there are the technical boxers that I love watching like Canelo and Shakur Stevenson whose technical ability and defensive work is really exciting.”

With his amateur career progressing nicely, Kaine is already looking forward to hopefully turning professional in the near future.

“I’m just trying to rack up as much amateur experience as I can at the moment with the aim to turn professional in the next few years.

“It’s all about the experience so I’ve just got to try and get as many fights as I can and enter all the competitions open to me now and then hopefully turn professional at 25.

“It’s important to not rush these kind of things so I’m just fighting as many people as I can and gaining that experience before taking the step up to professionalism.”

With such an impressive story so far Kaine has some advice for people thinking of taking up boxing.

“Even if it’s just for the health benefits I’d definitely recommend boxing to anyone. Even if you don’t want to get into it for the actual fighting it’s a great way to get and stay fit.

“Even when the training is hard and gruelling the long term benefits are so rewarding so I’d say just get involved and you wont regret it.”

Everyone at Manchester Central is excited to be a part of Kaine’s journey and we can’t wait to track his progression to professionalism in the coming months and years.