Martirosyan Gets U.S. Boxing’s Second Win

By GREG BEACHAM
.c The Associated Press

ATHENS, Greece (AP) – Vanes Martirosyan erased any doubts about the
legitimacy of his spot in Athens, battering Algeria’s Benamar Meskine
in a 45-20 victory in the preliminaries Sunday to earn a second-round
match with Cuba’s Lorenzo Aragon.

“I finished like a champion,” said Martirosyan, an Armenian-born
18-year-old from Glendale, Calif. “I could have won another four
rounds, to tell you the truth. I felt so good out there.”

Martirosyan showed the power and flair of a contender, dictating the
fight’s pace with a stiff jab and opportunistic combinations. He also
counterpunched effectively while landing more shots to the head than
almost any competitor so far at the busy boxing venue, which hosts
more than 20 fights every day of the preliminaries.

Middleweight Andre Dirrell got the United States off to a good start
Saturday with a win in his preliminary bout. Two Americans received
first-round byes, and five more will fight in the next three days
before the second round begins Wednesday.

Tougher fights still loom for a team that’s thought to be among the
weakest in the United States’ superb Olympic boxing history, but the
boxers believe they can improve on their mediocre four-medal haul four
years ago in Sydney.

“We’re a great team, we’re in great shape and we’re going to bring a
lot of medals home,” Martirosyan said.

Martirosyan was one fight from elimination at the U.S. team trials in
February in Tunica, Miss., but the two top contenders were
disqualified when Andre Berto threw Juan McPherson to the canvas,
injuring McPherson’s neck. McPherson was medically disqualified, and
Berto was banned for his actions.

Though he caught a lucky break, Martirosyan made the most of it by
earning an Olympic spot in the ensuing qualifying tournaments. Berto,
from Winter Haven, Fla., made the Olympics anyway on Haiti’s team –
but Martirosyan beat Berto in a subsequent tourney.

“A lot of boxing fans and people in our organization were very well
aware of Vanes,” U.S. coach Basheer Abdullah said. “There were a lot
of predictions that he was going to make this team.

He was very, very aggressive today. He dictated what was happening in
the fight.”

Martirosyan was cheered at Peristeri Olympic Boxing Hall by his
father, Norik, a former amateur fighter who moved his family to
California when Vanes was 4; his younger brother, Vatche; his uncle
and his cousin – and a bunch of fans from Glendale who showed up
unannounced, waving Armenian and American flags.

Aragon, whose victory over Greece’s Theodoros Kotakos was stopped on
points in the third round, will be a stiff test for Martirosyan on
Thursday. The 1996 Olympic featherweight is a two-time world champion
as a welterweight, and he beat Martirosyan in the Athens Test Event in
May.

But Martirosyan was slugging point-for-point with Aragon until the
fourth round, when Martirosyan says he got overexcited by the prospect
of an upset.

“We’re Armenian. We have this thing where we get a little bit out of
control in the ring,” Martirosyan said. “I love this sport so
much. The coaches have told me to calm down, just think about points
instead of trying to get the guy out of there.”

After a slow first minute against Meskine, Martirosyan landed the
first of many shots to the Algerian’s head. Martirosyan then staggered
him with a beautiful left hand early in the third round.

That punch effectively ended the fight. Meskine retreated to
full-scale defense while Martirosyan chased. Martirosyan scored 16
points in the final round, putting his whole body behind his blows in
a vain effort to flatten Meskine.

Perhaps that Armenian instinct hasn’t completely been coached out of
him – and it will serve him well as a professional.

But first things first: Martirosyan finished third in the Athens Test
Event, and he isn’t keen on keeping that prize.

“I brought that bronze medal back so I could take the gold,” he
said.

08/15/04 14:43 EDT