SWEET SCIENCE 101 EDUCATION CONTINUES FOR VANES MARTIROSYAN
by Igor Frank
411mania.com
09.22.2008
TX
The up and coming prospect remains undefeated.
Saturday morning I was flying home from Las Vegas to Burbank,
California after covering a fight between two undefeated prospects
Vanes Martirosyan and Michael Medina the night before. On the plane
I got into a conversation with two Armenian gentlemen who seemed to
know a lot about boxing and when I mentioned that I was coming back
from reporting on their countryman’s fighter, I got a very interesting
response, "I am not sure about Martirosyan. Bob Arum is feeding him
a bunch of nobodies; he babies him just like he is doing with Chavez
Jr." I
know it’s a popular opinion, but I have to disagree, especially in
lieu of what I saw on Friday night. First of all Bob does not baby
his prized prospects; he develops them and in my opinion he is the
best in the business in doing just that. When Top Rank signed young
Martirosyan to a promotional contract Bob Arum was very excited,
"We have big plans for him," he exclaimed. Let’s forget for a moment
a superstar status that Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr. have
been able to reach, and review the progress of Kelly Pavlik and Miguel
Cotto. Two years ago nobody knew Pavlik and people that knew him had
doubts about his undefeated record and his KO percentage. Cotto was
more of a star, but experts had doubts about him as well, because of
his vulnerabilities, such as his chin.
Arum took his time with both of them allowing these hot prospects
to gain valuable experience and confidence and when the time came
they both exploded into the next dimension. They are the present and
the future of boxing – they are the stars that are able to sell out
arenas. That is what Bob does – he challenges their fighters and keeps
them busy, with each challenge getting more difficult to prepare and
educate them for the next level.
So what about Vanes Martirosyan? The 2004 U.S. Olympian has been
busy fighting and his last bout was a stern test, which he passed
with flying colors. His opponent, then undefeated Michael Medina
came to fight and he was willing to take some punishment in order
to give out his. It looked at the beginning as if Vanes might have
an easy night; he was more skilled , faster and his very stiff jab
was snapping Medina’s head back almost every time it landed. Vanes
showcased his skills, throwing a variety of punches, jabs crosses,
hooks to the body and uppercuts and he was tagging his adversary with
all of them, winning virtually every round, even if not causing a lot
of damage. Medina, undeterred by disparity in skills and by what was
coming his way, kept firing back and started to land long looping right
hands in the middle rounds, because Vanes did not have the confidence
to stay in the pocket, as his trainer Ronnie Shields kept trying to
urge him, and started to move backwards. Ronnie Shields instructed
his charge to stay in the pocket and lay down more on his punches,
thus by avoiding getting hit by long looping right hands, but it was
easier said than done: Vanes discouraged by not being able to hurt
his opponent was moving out and getting tagged and made the later
rounds very competitive.
Ronnie’s pleas for Vanes to move his head to avoid getting hit so
much fell on death ears.
But I felt it was a very good showing for a 22 year old prospect with
a fight that afforded him a lot of valuable experience. I am sure he
has learned that he can get through a tough fight against somebody
who is not going anywhere. This fight should give him confidence and
should teach him to listen to his corner and follow directions.
Vanes "The Nightmare" Martirosyan (21-0,13KO) possesses all the tools
to be a star. The question that remains to be answered is if he has
the discipline and determination to do it?
His next fight will take place at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada
on November 1st, 2008. I can’t wait to see how far he can go.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
