Martin grabs first pro boxing win

Megan Martin of Dodson, won her first professional boxing match after defeating Wendy Toney by a 40-36 unanimous decision during Rage on the River, held at the Clearwater River Casino in Lewiston, ID, on Saturday, October 15.

The match was Martin's second professional match and third boxing match in her young boxing career.

Martin graduated from Dodson High School in 2004 and is currently studying Diesel Technology at Montana State University Northern in Havre.

"I've been working on my own cars my whole life," Martin said. "I'm just tired of working minimum wage jobs. I want a job that's going to make good money that I enjoy doing everyday and I figured that must be it for me."

Though her high school career and college career started years apart, she started boxing during high school but didn't have her first fight until 2012.

"I was interested in high school and spent a little time in the boxing club there in Malta," Martin said. "I actually got beat in my first smoker (contest) pretty bad."

In 2012, she had her first and only amateur match against Kaye Brown at the Fort Belknap Casino and defeated Brown by Unanimous Decision.

"I wasn't supposed to win and I won," Martin said. "I just always liked fighting and I've wanted to do it, I just never got the chance."

Part of Martin's reasoning for not starting her career earlier was that being the great-niece of former boxer Doug Simanton, her family was all too familiar with the sport. Her mother Dottie Simanton had also boxed.

"My family wasn't totally happy about it when I first started," Martin said. "But I trained really hard, worked really hard and they just told me if I wanted to do it, I needed to be in really good shape."

Before the match against Brown, Martin did train hard and got in really good shape without having a trainer.

"A lot of road work," Martin said noting that she had run for miles along a road in Dodson. "I spent a lot of time in the gym there in Dodson just lifting weights."

The gym also put up a punching bag for Martin to train on and a stationary bike.

"That's kind of my go-to place," Martin said. "I like to go to Dodson to go workout."

After going to school in Havre, Martin didn't see the ring for nearly four years after her match against Brown but she stayed in fighting shape.

"My family races horses too," Martin said. "I wanted to be in really good shape and I've been waiting for my opportunity. I like to do anything that has to do with being physically fit."

On August 11, 2016, Martin would see the ring again, this time in her first pro fight at the Fort Belknap Casino, where she had fought Wamnee Ereaux in the 135 pound weight class. The match ended in a draw.

"She was a really good fighter, who has been fighting her whole life," Martin said.

She got back into boxing through a promoter out of Fort Belknap.

"I know a pro boxer out of Fort Belknap and he's the one that started putting on these smokers," Martin said. "He knows me, knows what kind of person I am and he got a hold of me to fight Kaye. I think he just kind of kept his eye on me for a long time."

Her most recent fight was against Spokane's Wendy Toney on October 15, at the Clear Water Casino in Lewiston, Idaho. Martin had won the four round fight by a 40-36 unanimous decision.

In the first round, Martin was just trying to figure out her opponent.

"She got a couple of good punches on me but I was just trying to measure out my distances and getting comfortable," Martin said. "Maybe after a minute into that first round, I started really cutting loose, fighting in the pocket, dipping in and out of the pocket, working off my jab and following it up with a strong right hand."

As the two-minute round continued, Martin started using uppercuts as Toney started dropping her head.

Though Martin was on top, she faced an issue that would slow any boxer down. She broke her hand.

"I came out pretty good, working her pretty hard," Martin said. "I don't know if it was because she dropped her head and I got more on top of her or what but I just remember coming out of that second round and I said to my coach, I think I broke my hand."

Her coach, Ted Reiter, looked at Martin in fear as he was about to throw in the towel. Martin then wrote the injury off as a stinger and continued to fight.

"I had already finished the second round and there were two rounds to go," Martin said. "I was really not sure if I broke it or not."

She continued the fight, firing away with both hands until Reiter told Martin to lay off using her injured right hand.

"It was a good fight," Martin said. "Toney was a little bit more of a brawler than a boxer but she was very tough and I'm very impressed that she finished the fight. She took a hell of a beating."

Martin's broken hand will not allow her to fight until January.

Though she is injured, her fighting career isn't over and despite the possible setbacks; Martin's love for boxing outweighs those setbacks.

"The grit that it takes to do it," she said when asked why she loves fighting.

Martin says that her mother is one of her biggest encouragers.

"My mom encourages me quite a bit and she's there for me a lot," Martin said. "My coach keeps me motivated, he believes I have what it takes to make it and go a lot farther. That keeps me motivated."

Reiter started helping Martin during her first pro fight against Ereaux after Simanton, who had been training his great-niece, recommended him.

"I love training with Ted," Martin said. "I feel like he's really good and knows what he is doing."

Reiter had a few words to say about Martin.

"Megan has physical tools that are extraordinarily rare," Reiter said. "I firmly believe that these tools, combined with her incredible work ethic, will make her the best boxer (male or female) to come out of this state. She had a setback with the broken hand, but she will overcome it. You can't teach the natural talent that she has. She's going to put the Hi-Line on the boxing map."