IS THIS THE YEAR OF VANES MARTIROSYAN?
Igor Frank
411mania.com
/boxing/96114/Is-this-the-Year-of-Vanes-Martirosya n?.htm
Feb 5 2009
TX
A close look at development of Vanes Martirosyan.
Boxing needs new stars. Even though Oscar De la Hoya has not officially
retired, his career is all but over. No matter how spectacular Bernard
Hopkins looked giving young Kelly Pavlik a boxing lesson last year or
how incredible Sugar Shane Mosley looked last week destroying Antonio
Margarito, there is one fight that these legends can not win and that
is a fight with time.
Bob Arum of Top Rank is an expert at developing new stars. His record
speaks for itself; Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr. are
prime examples of what Bob can do. Miguel Cotto and Kelly Pavlik
are the stars on the rise who were both developed by Bob from the
beginning. Even though Mr. Arum did not promote all of Manny Pacquiao
fights from the start, he obviously turned him into a superstar that
he is today. There is a very fine line between creating challenges and
exposure for a rising prospect and putting him in over his head. One
wrong move could ruin a career or derail it for a considerable
amount of time. Couple of examples comes to mind: Miguel Cotto ended
a career of a very tough Russian, Olympic gold medalist, Mohamed
Abdulaev, who was never the same after a beating he took from Cotto
in 2005. Kid Diamond was one of the hottest prospects in 2005, when
he got manhandled by Nate Campbell, he has been fighting in obscurity
ever since. Bob seems to have a knack for knowing that balance and
being able to bring the best out of his proteges. So, who is next?
One of those prospects is 2004 U. S. Olympian Vanes Martirosyan, who
was signed by Top Rank and started his professional craft in 2005. He
is a good looking kid with a genuine smile and polite manners. He is
fast with a good set of boxing skills and he packs a punch. In a way
he reminds me of young Oscar De La Hoya. A little over a year ago
Vanes left Glendale, California, a place he called home, and moved
to Houston, Texas to get away from distractions. He employed the
services of a much respected trainer, Ronnie Shields, who is also
training Juan Diaz and Rocky Juarez at Savanough Boxing Club. The
22 year old Martirosyan is putting in the work that is necessary to
get to the top. In last couple of fights he has developed a stiff and
consistent jab that has become a weapon all by itself. Actually, his
last fight only lasted 80 seconds in which he scored a spectacular
knock out over Charles Howe, last November at the Mandalay Bay on
the undercard of Chavez Jr. If you ask Vanes, Chavez Jr should be
fighting on his undercard. I would have to agree with Vanes. He is a
decorated amateur, who represented our country in 2004 Olympics and
he would box circles around slower Chavez Jr, but that fight would
not take place any time soon.
So why the development of the future star is so slow. Nothing good
comes easy. It is like making lavash (Armenian bread): most local
bakeries in Glendale will bake it in one hour, but if you want the
real thing you have to go to Armenia where folks make a fire in the
four feet deep hole, wait for fire to burn off and than bake the
bread on coals over night.
"This is my year," exclaimed Martirosyan (22-0, 14 KO’S) over the
phone; "I feel great."
He has been working really hard for the past two month, sparring with
light heavyweights and concentrating on sitting down on his punches,
which he is going to need to do if he wants finish early against his
next opponent Billy Lyell, who is known as very tough guy.
Martirosyan versus Lyell is scheduled to take place this Saturday at
the Honda Center in Anaheim, California on the undercard of Darchinyan
vs. Arce and kid Diamond and DeMarco along with featuring a few more
rising stars. Be there, if you are a boxing fan, tickets are priced
reasonably and are still available.