Vanes Martirosyan

Armenian American boxer

Vanes Norikovich Martirosyan ('/v//ɑː//n//ɛ//s/ ; born May 1, 1986) is an Armenian American former professional boxer who competed from 2005 to 2018. He challenged twice for a light middleweight world title in 2013 and 2016, and once for unified middleweight world titles in 2018.

Vanes was born on May 1, 1986, in Abovyan, Armenia. Vanes' father, Norik Martirosyan, was an amateur boxer in Armenia who worked for an industrial company and was also in the army. Vanes has two brothers, one older and one younger, and a sister. His family moved to Glendale, California when he was four years old. He started boxing when he was seven after his father found out there was a gym in Glendale.

On February 17, 2015 Showtime announced that Martirosyan would appear on a doubleheader at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas on March 28 against Jermell Charlo (25 0). The fight was contested over 10 rounds. Martirosyan lost a contentious unanimous decision. He was considered the more aggressive fighter. The scores were 97–93, 96–94, 96–94. Martirosyan felt he won the fight.

On September 12, 2015, Martirosyan fought Ishe Smith. Martirosyan outpointed Smith on two of the judges scorecards, 97 91 and 97 91, while the third judge had the fight a draw, 95 95, giving Martirosyan the majority decision victory.

In his next fight, Martirosyan fought Erislandy Lara for the WBA world super welterweight championship. Martirosyan got outboxed by Lara, and lost the fight via unanimous decision. The scorecards read 116 111, 116 111 and 115 112 in favour of Lara.

On May 5, 2018 Martirosyan fought unified Middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin at the StubHub Center in Carson, California after he was chosen as the late replacement for Canelo Álvarez when Canelo withdrew from the much anticipated Cinco De Mayo rematch in the wake of his failed drug tests for Clenbuterol. With only three weeks of preparation for the bout and almost two years since his last professional fight, Martirosyan faced long odds against the undefeated middleweight champion. Although he performed better than expected in the opening round of the fight, Martirosyan eventually succumbed to Golovkin's power and suffered a quick defeat via knock out in the 2nd round. When speaking of Golovkin's power in the post fight, Martirosyan said it felt like he was "being hit by a train." Golovkin said, "It feels great to get a knockout. Vanes is a very good fighter. He caught me a few times in the first round. In the second round, I came out all business after I felt him out in the first round." For the fight, Golovkin landed 36 of 84 punches thrown (43%) and Martirosyan landed 18 of his 73 thrown (25%). Martirosyan received a purse of $225,000 for the fight. The fight averaged 1,249,000 viewers and peaked at 1,361,000 viewers, making most watched boxing match on cable television in 2018.

No. (Number)ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes41Loss36–4–1Gennady GolovkinKO2 (12), May 5, 201840Loss36–3–1Erislandy LaraUD12May 21, 201639Win36–2–1Ishe SmithMD (Majority decision)10Sep 12, 201538Loss35–2–1Jermell CharloUD10Mar 28, 201537Win35–1–1Willie NelsonUD10Oct 4, 201436Win34–1–1Mario Alberto LozanoUD10Mar 21, 201435Loss33–1–1Demetrius AndradeSD (Split decision)12Nov 9, 201334Win33–0–1Ryan DavisTKO2 (10), Jun 15, 201333Draw32–0–1Erislandy LaraTD (Technical draw)9 (12), Nov 10, 201232Win32–0Troy LowryTKO3 (10), Feb 4, 201231Win31–0Richard GutierrezUD10Oct 29, 201130Win30–0Saúl RománTKO7 (12), Jun 4, 201129Win29–0Bladimir HernandezKO2 (8), Mar 19, 201128Win28–0Joe GreeneUD10Jun 5, 201027Win27–0Kassim OumaUD10Jan 16, 201026Win26–0Willie LeeTKO3 (10), Dec 19, 200925Win25–0Andrey TsurkanRTD6 (10), Jun 27, 200924Win24–0Harrison CuelloTKO1 (8), May 16, 200923Win23–0Billy LyellUD8Feb 7, 200922Win22–0Charles HoweTKO1 (10), Nov 1, 200821Win21–0Michael MedinaUD10Sep 19, 200820Win20–0Ángel HernándezUD10Jun 26, 200819Win19–0Michi MunozTKO3 (10), Feb 7, 200818Win18–0Clarence TaylorUD6Jan 4, 200817Win17–0Dan WallaceTKO1 (6), Dec 20, 200716Win16–0Patrick ThompsonUD6Oct 4, 200715Win15–0Alexis DivisionRTD3 (8), Aug 30, 200714Win14–0Alberto MercedesTKO7 (8), Jun 29, 200713Win13–0Nelson EstupinanTKO2 (8), Apr 27, 200712Win12–0Taronze WashingtonTKO2 (8), Jan 27, 200711Win11–0Edgar ReyesRTD (Corner retirement)4 (6), Nov 18, 200610Win10–0Marcus BrooksUD6Aug 12, 20069Win9–0Oscar GonzalezTKO1 (6), Jun 3, 20068Win8–0Tefo SeetsoKO (Knockout)3 (6), Apr 8, 20067Win7–0Juan Pablo Montes de OcaTKO3 (6), Feb 18, 20066Win6–0Abdias CastilloTKO5 (6), Nov 12, 20055Win5–0Tony MoralesTKO1 (6), Oct 8, 20054Win4–0Gerardo Cesar PrietoUD6Sep 10, 20053Win3–0Fernando VelaUD4Aug 26, 20052Win2–0Jovanni RubioTKO (Technical knockout)1 (4), May 28, 20051Win1–0Jesse OrtaUD (Unanimous decision)4Apr 8, 2005