15:33,
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 27, ARMENPRESS. Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Karen Giloyan has met with boxer Noel Mikaelian, the new WBC world cruiserweight champion.
Mikaelian, 33, who has a record of 27 wins and 2 losses, won the vacant WBC cruiserweight title after defeating Ilunga Makabu in Miami.
Mikaelian defeated Makabu (Democratic Republic of the Congo) by way of knock-out in the third round.
“We were negotiating for quite some time around organizing a WBC world championship fight. My last fight was for the WBC Silver belt, which I won. The fight for the WBC championship was very important, and my opponent, the representative of the Congo, was a very strong athlete. He held the championship title for three years. As a result I knocked him out in the third round. I am very proud to represent Armenia,” Mikaelian said.
Giloyan congratulated Mikaelian on the win and wished him good luck in the future.
“Thank you for always keeping our country’s honor high and for your efforts,” Giloyan told the champion.
“You have an army of fans here in Armenia who follow your fights and get inspired by your victories.”
Noel Mikaelian thanked for the reception and expressed readiness to support the development of professional boxing in Armenia.
“I want to support the development of professional boxing in Armenia with everything I can. I am also participating in charity initiatives and I am very happy to be able to contribute to the development of my country,” the boxer added.
Giloyan said that Armenia must regularly become the location of major sports events. He said that Armenia hosted 6 European and World championships in amateur boxing, weightlifting and sambo in the last two years. He didn’t rule out that Armenia could also host professional boxing events.