Mger Mkrtchyan (born 12 November 1976 in

Gyumri Gyumri ( hy, Գյումրի, ) is an urban municipal community and the second-largest city in Armenia, serving as the administrative center of Shirak Province in the northwestern part of the country. By the end of the 19th century, when the city w ...

, Armenia) is 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 ...

former professional boxer. He held the EBU Super Middleweight and the WBO Asia Pacific super middleweight titles. He contended for the 2004 WBO World Super middleweight title but lost to

Joe Calzaghe Joseph William Calzaghe ( ; born 23 March 1972) is a Welsh former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2008. He held world championships in two weight classes, including the unified WBA (Undisputed), WBC, IBF, WBO, '' Ring'' magazin ...

in a 7th-round

technical knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving strikin ...

Professional career

Mkrtchyan's professional debut was 29 November 2000. Fifteen fights and 14 wins later, he won the WBO Asia Pacific super middleweight title, his first, against Vage Kocharyan in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

on 19 November 2002. After wins over Freeman Barr and Jozsef Balazs, Mkrtchyan got the chance to challenge world champion

for the 2004 WBO World Super middleweight title. Mkrtchyan lasted 7 rounds before losing in a technical knockout. On 14 April 2006, Mkrtchyan became the EBU (European) super middleweight champion, knocking out the unbeaten Jackson Chanet. In October, he lost the defense of the title in a split decision to David Gogiya, the former Russian Super Middleweight champion who the WBC ranked ninth in world and the IBF ranked seventh,

References

External links

* 1976 births Living people Sportspeople from Gyumri Armenian male boxers Super-middleweight boxers 21st-century Armenian people {{Armenia-boxing-bio-stub