Artur Razmikovich Grigorian ( hy, Արթուր Գրիգորյան; born 20 October 1967) is a retired Armenian-Uzbek

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

. Grigorian is a former WBO

lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) weight class in the sport of boxing. Notable lightweight ...

champion. He defended his title against record-breaking 17 boxers, and held it for seven years, six months and twenty days; nearly as long as record holder

Benny Leonard Benny Leonard (born Benjamin Leiner; April 7, 1896 – April 18, 1947) was a Jewish American professional boxer who held the world lightweight championship for eight years, from 1917 to 1925. Widely considered one of the all-time greats, he was ...

held his lightweight title (7 years, 8 months).

Biography

Grigorian was born on 20 October 1967 in

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

Tashkent Tashkent (, uz, Toshkent, Тошкент/, ) (from russian: Ташкент), or Toshkent (; ), also historically known as Chach is the capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of 2 ...

Uzbek SSR Uzbekistan (, ) is the common English name for the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (Uzbek SSR; uz, Ўзбекистон Совет Социалистик Республикаси, Oʻzbekiston Sovet Sotsialistik Respublikasi, in Russian: Уз ...

to an

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

family from

Nagorno-Karabakh Nagorno-Karabakh ( ) is a landlocked region in the South Caucasus, within the mountainous range of Karabakh, lying between Lower Karabakh and Syunik, and covering the southeastern range of the Lesser Caucasus mountains. The region is m ...

. He has a brother and sister.

Amateur career

Grigorian began boxing at the age of 11. He defeated

Shane Mosley Shane Mosley (born September 7, 1971), often known by his nickname "Sugar" Shane Mosley, is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2016. He held multiple world championships in three weight classes, including the IBF l ...

and won a gold medal at the 1990 Goodwill Games in Seattle City. Grigorian won a silver medal at the

1991 World Amateur Boxing Championships The Men's 1991 World Amateur Boxing Championships were held in Sydney, Australia, from November 15 to 23. The sixth edition of this competition, held nearly a year before the Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, was organised by the world's go ...

and competed at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

in Barcelona. *1991 2nd place as a lightweight at the World Championships in Sydney, Australia. His results were: **Defeated Juan Carlos Saiz (Spain) PTS (26–18) **Defeated Julio Gonzalez (Cuba) PTS (15–12) **Defeated Hong Sung-Sik (South Korea) PTS (19–7) **Defeated

Justin Rowsell Justin Rowsell (born 22 December 1971) is an Australian boxer. He competed in the men's lightweight event at the 1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 199 ...

(Australia) PTS (21–15) **Lost to

Marco Rudolph Marco Rudolph (born May 22, 1970 in Zittau, Saxony) is a retired German boxer, who won the Lightweight Silver medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics. Professional career Rudolph began his professional career in 1995 and had limited success. He fo ...

(Germany) PTS (14–19) *1992 Grigorian represented the Unified Team (Former Soviet Union) at the Barcelona Olympic Games as a lightweight. His results were: **Defeated Óscar Palomino (Spain) 11–10 **Lost to Hong Sung-Sik (South Korea) 3–9 Artur had a final amateur record of 361–23.

Professional career

Trained by

Fritz Sdunek Fritz Sdunek (; 18 April 1947 – 22 December 2014) was a German professional boxing trainer and previously an amateur boxer. Regarded as one of the most successful and famous boxing trainers, he trained, among others, such world champions as W ...

, Grigorian began his professional career in 1994 and won eight consecutive bouts. On 23 July 1994, Grigorian defeated Turkish boxer Senturk Ozdemir by a fifth-round technical knockout and won the vacant German International lightweight title. On 1 April 1995, Grigorian defeated Antonio Strabello and became the WBO Inter-Continental champion. After six non-title bouts and one title defense, Artur, with a perfect 19–0 record, became eligible to fight for the WBO

championship world title. The title had recently been vacated by

Oscar De La Hoya Oscar De La Hoya ( , ; born on February 4, 1973) is an American boxing promoter and former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2008. His accolades include winning 11 world titles in six weight classes, including the lineal championshi ...

after he moved up to the light welterweight division. Grigorian faced Puerto Rican

Antonio Rivera José Antonio Rivera (December 5, 1963 in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico– April 4, 2005) was a Puerto Rican boxer. He was much better known as El Gallo Rivera or Tonito Rivera, and was a prominent boxer during the decade of the 1980s. Professional ...

on 13 April 1996, for the vacant WBO lightweight title. Both were the two top contenders in the lightweight division. Artur won by knocking Rivera out in the twelfth round and became the new WBO lightweight champion. After four title defenses, Grigorian defended his belt against undefeated challenger

. Rudolph had bested Grigorian seven years earlier at the 1991 World Amateur Boxing Championship finals. Grigorian avenged his amateur defeat by stopping Rudolph in the sixth round. Grigorian would continue to defend his title a total of seventeen times, a new record in the lightweight division. Artur was just one more defense away from becoming the longest reigning lightweight champion, but ultimately lost his belt to Acelino Freitas by unanimous decision on 3 January 2004. Grigorian had surgery on his right shoulder prior to the bout. Freitas lost the belt in his first title defense against

Diego Corrales Diego "Chico" Corrales Jr. (August 25, 1977 – May 7, 2007) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2007. He was a multiple-time world champion in two weight divisions, having held the IBF super featherweight title from 199 ...

. Grigorian retired later that year after winning one more bout. On 24 February 2009, at the age of 41, Artur came out of retirement for one more bout in which he won a six-round unanimous decision against Bulgarian

Kirkor Kirkorov Kirkor Kirkorov ( bg, Киркор Киркоров; born March 4, 1968, as Krikor Kirkorian) is a retired boxer from Bulgaria, who competed for his native country at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. There he was defeated in the fi ...

. Kirkorov is also of Armenian descent and also a

medalist.

Personal life

Grigorian lives in Germany with his wife and three daughters. He currently works as a boxing trainer.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grigorian, Artur 1967 births Living people Soviet male boxers Soviet Armenians Lightweight boxers Boxers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic boxers of the Unified Team Uzbekistani people of Armenian descent World lightweight boxing champions World Boxing Organization champions Sportspeople from Tashkent Uzbekistani male boxers AIBA World Boxing Championships medalists Goodwill Games medalists in boxing Competitors at the 1990 Goodwill Games