JOSE LUIS CRUZ FACES ARCHAK TER-MELIKSETIAN ON UNDERCARD
The Sweet Science
Nov 15 2006
Bobby Pacquiao (27-11-3, 12 KOs) defends his WBC Continental Americas
Lightweight Championship against Hector "El Artillero" Velazquez
(45-11-2, 1NC, 32 KOs) in the 12-round main event of the next VERSUS
Fight Night card in conjunction with Top Rank Boxing on Thursday,
November 16, at 9 PM/ET from the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las
Vegas. The undercard features an 8-round Super Welterweight showdown
between Jose Luis Cruz (33-2-2, 28 KOs), the former Mexican champion
against Archak "Shark Attack" Meliksetian (16-4, 13 KOs).
The 26-year-old Pacquiao, who hails from General Santos City in the
Philippines, currently holds Continental Americas super featherweight
title. He has three wins in his last three fights, defeating former
world champions Kevin Kelley (June, 2006), Carlos Hernandez (October
2005) and Carlos Navarro (June, 2005). In his last bout on June 10
at Madison Square Garden, he KO’d Kelley in the fourth.
Velasquez, from Tijuana, Mexico, has been fighting professionally
for 13 years. In his last fight on September 1 in Albuquerque, New
Mexico, he won a 12-round unanimous decision against Yuri Voronin. He
also won a 10-round decision over Guadalupe Hernandez (June 17, 2006)
and TKO’d Adnan Amador in the second round (May 20, 2006). Prior to
those three wins he lost to Manny Pacquiao by KO in 2005.
Cruz, from Mazaltan , Mexico is the former Mexican welterweight
champion. A 10-year veteran, Cruz, has been in the ring with some of
boxing’s best. He has lost two fights in a row, both by decision, to
former world champions Sharmba Mitchell and Shane Mosley. He TKO’d
Vince Thompson in the 8th round on June 14, 2005. He also sports
a draw with Carlos Baldomir and a KO victory over WBC welterweight
champion Jorge Vaca.
Meliksetian, from Armenia, replaces Anthony "The Messenger" Thompson,
who suffered an eye injury and had to withdraw from the card. The
hard-hitting Meliksetian, who fights out of Paterson, NJ, earned a
four-round TKO over Dillon Carew in his last fight on September 15.