Vanes Martirosyan ( hy, Վանես Մարտիրոսյան; born May 1, 1986) is a former Armenian-born American

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 ...

from 2005 to 2019. He has challenged twice for a light middleweight world title in 2013 and 2016, and once for a unified middleweight world title in 2018.

Early life

Vanes was born on May 1, 1986, in

Abovyan Abovyan or Abovian ( hy, Աբովյան), is a town and urban municipal community in Armenia within the Kotayk Province. It is located northeast of Yerevan and southeast of the province centre Hrazdan. As of the 2011 census, the population of ...

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ' ...

. Vanes' father, Norik Martirosyan, was an amateur boxer in Armenia who worked for an industrial company and was also in the army. Vanes has two brothers, one older and one younger, and a sister. His family moved to Glendale, California when he was four years old. He started boxing when he was seven after his father found out there was a gym in Glendale. Martirosyan was taken out of junior high school by his father and became home-schooled once it had become clear that he needed to keep his son's fighting confined to the ring.

Amateur career

Martirosyan was an eight-time National Champion and a

Golden Gloves The Golden Gloves is the name given to annual competitions for amateur boxing in the United States, where they are awarded a belt and a ring. And the title of nations champion is awarded. The Golden Gloves is a term used to refer to the Nation ...

Champion. In 2004, after winning a match against Haiti's

Andre Berto Andre Michael Berto (born September 7, 1983) is a professional boxer who holds dual American and Haitian citizenship. He is a two-time former welterweight world champion, having held the WBC and IBF titles between 2008 and 2011, as well as the ...

in the

1st AIBA American 2004 Olympic Qualifying Tournament The 1st AIBA American 2004 Olympic Boxing Qualifying Tournament was held in Tijuana, Mexico from March 12 to March 20, 2004. It was the first chance for amateur boxers from North-, Central- and South America to qualify for the 2004 Summer Olymp ...

Tijuana, Mexico Tijuana ( ,"Tijuana"
(US) and < ...

, Martirosyan secured a spot in the US Olympic Team. He represented the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

at the 2004 Olympics as a

Welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like Muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify th ...

at age 18. He was on the same Olympic team as

Andre Ward Andre Michael Ward (born February 23, 1984) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2017. He retired with an undefeated record and held multiple world titles in two weight classes, including the unified WBA (Super) ...

and

Andre Dirrell Andre Dirrell (born September 7, 1983) is an American professional boxer who held the IBF interim super middleweight title from 2017 to 2018. As an amateur, he won a bronze medal in the middleweight division at the 2004 Olympics. His young ...

. Results were: *Defeated

Benamar Meskine Benamar Meskine (born June 6, 1973) is a boxer from Algeria. He participated in the 2004 Summer Olympics for his native North African country. He was defeated in the first round of the welterweight division by Bakhtiyar Artayev. Meskine qua ...

(Algeria) 45–20 *Lost to Lorenzo Aragón Armenteros (Cuba) 11–20 Martitosyan lost to in the second round to Aragon Armenteros who was 12 years his senior. Notable boxers Martirosyan defeated as an amateur include

Austin Trout Austin Dwayne Trout (born September 18, 1985) is an American professional boxer who held the WBA (Regular) light middleweight title from 2011 to 2013. He is also a three-time light middleweight world title challenger; challenging twice for the IB ...

(three times), Andre Berto, and

Timothy Bradley Timothy Ray Bradley Jr. (born August 29, 1983) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2016. He held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the WBC light welterweight title twice between 2008 a ...

. He finished his amateur career with 120 wins and 10 losses.

Professional career

Early career

At the age of 20, Martirosyan turned professional at 154 pounds with

Bob Arum Robert Arum (born December 8, 1931) is an American lawyer and boxing promoter. He is the founder and CEO of Top Rank, a professional boxing promotion company based in Las Vegas. Prior to becoming a boxing promoter, Arum was employed as an attorn ...

's promotional company

Top Rank Top Rank, Inc. is a boxing promotional company founded by Jabir Herbert Muhammad and Bob Arum, which was incorporated in 1973, and is based in Las Vegas, Nevada. Since its founding, Top Rank has promoted many world class fighters, including Muh ...

. Vanes is managed by his uncle, Serge Martirosyan. He is also co-managed by

Shelly Finkel Sheldon "Shelly" Finkel (born June 27, 1944) is an American boxing and music manager and promoter. Finkel received the Boxing Writers Association of America ''Manager of the Year'' award in 1990 and 1993. He was inducted into the International ...

, who also manages and advises world champions such as Wladimir and

Vitali Klitschko Vitali Volodymyrovych Klitschko (; uk, Віта́лій Володи́мирович Кличко́ ; born 19 July 1971) is a Ukrainian politician and former professional boxer who serves as mayor of KyivEvander Holyfield,

Manny Pacquiao Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao Sr. (; born December17, 1978) is a Filipino politician and former professional boxer. Nicknamed "PacMan", he is regarded as one of the greatest professional boxers of all time. He served as a Senator of the Phil ...

, among others. Vanes was trained by

Freddie Roach Frederick Steven Roach (born March 5, 1960) is an American boxing trainer and former professional boxer. Roach is widely regarded as one of the best boxing trainers of all time. He is the enduring boxing coach of the eight-division world champio ...

, who was voted 2003 and 2006 Trainer of the Year by the

Boxing Writers Association of America The Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) was originally formed in 1926 as the Boxing Writers Association of Greater New York. The association's purpose is to promote better working conditions for boxing writers, as well as hold its writers ...

. He trains alongside Roach's other top students, including

and Julio César Chávez, Jr. Martirosyan has also worked with

Ronnie Shields Ronnie Shields (born June 6, 1958 in Port Arthur, Texas) is a former professional boxer in the featherweight division and is currently a boxing trainer. Amateur career Shields had a stellar amateur career. In 1974 he was the National Junior Oly ...

, winning his first fight under Shields's tutelage when he knocked out Dan Wallace in one round. Martirosyan subsequently scored a shutout unanimous decision over Clarence Taylor, and also recorded wins against Billy Lyell (who would later topple previously unbeaten

John Duddy John Francis Duddy (born 19 June 1979) is an Irish actor and former professional boxer who fought from 2003 to 2010. He challenged once for the vacant WBC Silver middleweight title, losing in his final fight to Julio César Chávez Jr.

), Harrison Cuello,

Andrey Tsurkan Andrey Tsurkan (born October 6, 1977 in Luhansk, Ukraine) is a light middleweight boxer from Ukraine. Pro career On October 4, 2009 Herrera lost by 10th round T.K.O. to top light middleweight prospect, Mexican Alfredo Angulo Alfredo Angulo L� ...

and Willie Lee. Martirosyan was scheduled to make his HBO debut on June 5, 2010 in

Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx, New York City. It is the home field of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. Opened in April 2009, the stadium replaced the orig ...

on the

Miguel Cotto Miguel Ángel Cotto Vázquez (born October 29, 1980) is a Puerto Rican former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2017. He is a multiple-time world champion, and the first Puerto Rican boxer to win world titles in four weight classes, ...

vs.

Yuri Foreman Yuri Foreman (born August 5, 1980) is an Israeli professional boxer who held the WBA super welterweight title from 2009 to 2010. He was born in Gomel, Belarus, but currently fights out of Brooklyn, New York. Foreman has also pursued Jewish reli ...

undercard. His opponent was fellow undefeated prospect

Joe Greene Charles Edward Greene (born September 24, 1946), better known as "Mean" Joe Greene, is an American former professional football player who was a defensive tackle for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL) from 1969 to 1 ...

(22-0, 14 KOs). Martirosyan handed Greene the first loss of his career by way of unanimous decision. With this win Martirosyan, advanced to 28–0 with 17 wins coming by way of knockout. On March 19, 2011 Vanes made his next appearance in the ring at the

Bell Centre Bell Centre (), formerly known as Molson Centre (), is a multi-purpose arena located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Opened on March 16, 1996, it is the home arena of the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL), replacing the Montr ...

Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pe ...

. He got an easy win over Mexican Bladimir Hernandez by way of KO in the second round. His next fight was against veteran Saúl Román in a WBC semi-final title eliminator for the vacant WBC Silver Light Middleweight Championship. The bout was on June 4, 2011 in HBO's televised portion of the Julio César Chávez, Jr. vs. Sebastian Zbik undercard. Román knocked Vanes down in the first round and gave him trouble in the next two. Martirosyan came back in the fourth and fifth. When the seventh round began, Román cornered Vanes against the ropes and landed several blows. Vanes may have caught Román just in time from being stopped. In the same round, Vanes trapped Román against the ropes and knocked him down. After Román got up, Vanes landed a hard right hook on his chin and followed up with a barrage of blows while Román was leaning on the ropes, causing the fight to be stopped and turning what seemed to be near-defeat into victory. On October 29, 2011 Vanes fought contender Richard Gutierrez. Vanes dominated from start to finish and won a ten-round unanimous decision. The judges' scorecards were 100–90, 100-90 and 99–91; Vanes winning all but one round from one judge. Martirosyan fought veteran Troy Lowry on the Julio César Chávez, Jr. vs. Marco Antonio Rubio undercard. Vanes knocked Lowry down in the first round and stopping him in the third to retain his WBC Silver title. On November 9, 2013 Martirosyan was defeated on a split decision by

Demetrius Andrade Demetrius Cesar Andrade ( ; born February 26, 1988) is an American professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the WBO light middleweight title between 2013-2015, the WBA (Regular) title in 2017 ...

who on that day became a winner of the

World Boxing Organization The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxing ...

title. On March 21, 2014 he appeared on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

's Goossen Tutor Promotions, defeating Mario Antonio Lozano via unanimous decision after 10 rounds in a fight for the vacant WBO Inter-Continental light middleweight title.

Martirosyan vs. Charlo

On February 17, 2015 Showtime announced that Martirosyan would appear on a doubleheader at the

Palms Casino Resort Palms Casino Resort is a hotel and casino located near the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, United States. It is owned and operated by the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians. It includes 703 rooms and a casino. It was originally owned by th ...

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

on March 28 against

Jermell Charlo Jermell DeAvante Charlo (born May 19, 1990) is an American professional boxer. He is currently the undisputed light middleweight world champion, having held the WBC title since 2019 (and previously from 2016 to 2018), the WBA (Super), IBF and ' ...

(25-0). The fight was contested over 10 rounds. Martirosyan lost a contentious unanimous decision. He was considered the more aggressive fighter. The scores were 97–93, 96–94, 96–94. Martirosyan felt he won the fight.

Martirosyan vs. Smith

On September 12, 2015, Martirosyan fought Ishe Smith. Martirosyan outpointed Smith on two of the judges scorecards, 97-91 and 97-91, while the third judge had the fight a draw, 95-95, giving Martirosyan the majority decision victory.

Martirosyan vs. Lara

In his next fight, Martirosyan fought Erislandy Lara for the WBA world super welterweight championship. Martirosyan got outboxed by Lara, and lost the fight via unanimous decision. The scorecards read 116-111, 116-111 and 115-112 in favour of Lara.

Martirosyan vs. Golovkin

On May 5, 2018 Martirosyan fought unified Middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin at the StubHub Center in Carson, California after he was chosen as the late replacement for

Canelo Álvarez Santos Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez Barragán (; born 18 July 1990) is a Mexican professional boxer. He has won multiple world championships in four weight classes from light middleweight to light heavyweight, including unified titles in three of ...

when Canelo withdrew from the much anticipated Cinco De Mayo rematch in the wake of his failed drug tests for Clenbuterol. With only three weeks of preparation for the bout and almost two years since his last professional fight, Martirosyan faced long odds against the undefeated middleweight champion. Although he performed better than expected in the opening round of the fight, Martirosyan eventually succumbed to Golovkin's power and suffered a quick defeat via knock out in the 2nd round. When speaking of Golovkin's power in the post-fight, Martirosyan said it felt like he was "being hit by a train." Golovkin said, "It feels great to get a knockout. Vanes is a very good fighter. He caught me a few times in the first round. In the second round, I came out all business after I felt him out in the first round." For the fight, Golovkin landed 36 of 84 punches thrown (43%) and Martirosyan landed 18 of his 73 thrown (25%). Martirosyan received a purse of $225,000 for the fight. The fight averaged 1,249,000 viewers and peaked at 1,361,000 viewers, making most-watched boxing match on cable television in 2018.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

*
Stars are Aligned for Vanes MartirosyanVanes Martirosyan - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankings
a
Box.Live
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martirosyan, Vanes 1986 births Living people People from Abovyan Boxers from California Armenian male boxers American male boxers Soviet emigrants to the United States American sportspeople of Armenian descent Boxers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic boxers of the United States Light-middleweight boxers Ethnic Armenian sportspeople