By Keith Idec
Vanes Martirosyan and Erislandy Lara have very different opinions of what occurred during their first fight as their rematch nears.
Martirosyan thinks he was winning their November 2012 bout, which was scored a technical draw after a cut over Martirosyan’s left eye caused referee Jay Nady to stop their scheduled 12-rounder 26 seconds into the ninth round. Martirosyan’s cut was caused by an accidental head-butt, which was why the fight went to the scorecards when Martirosyan couldn’t continue.
“We watched it a few times,” Martirosyan said. “I thought I was coming on strong. The round that they called it a draw, I don’t why they scored that round because it was only 20 seconds into that round. And that’s what made it a draw.
“I do feel like I was winning on points in that fight. The cut was bad, and when Jay Nady asked for the judges to score the round, they scored it in his favor and they scored it a draw. I feel like I was up in that fight.”
Judge Jerry Roth scored Martirosyan an 86-85 winner of that WBC 154-pound championship elimination match at Wynn Las Vegas. Judge Richard Ocasio scored the bout for Lara, 87-84. The third judge, Dave Moretti scored it even, 86-86.
Martirosyan (36-2-1, 21 KOs), a 2004 American Olympian from Glendale, California, and the Cuban-born Lara (22-2-2, 13 KOs) are scheduled to fight in another 12-rounder May 21 at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas (Showtime). The 33-year-old Lara was more than willing to fight Martirosyan again, but he doesn’t think he had much difficulty dealing with Martirosyan in their first fight.
“To me, I was winning the fight easy,” Lara said. “I was out-boxing him. If you go look at CompuBox, I out-landed him in every single round of the fight. I was doing my job. Obviously, we fought on his promoter’s card [Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc.], like I always do. I’ve fought fighters on their turf [many times]. Now it’s on my turf. And I feel like I was winning the fight 100 percent. And I was coming on strong, and I was winning the last few rounds before the cut and I was on my way to stopping him before he decided not to fight. So I’m looking forward to this fight.”
Not surprisingly, the 30-year-old Martirosyan vehemently disputed Lara’s recollection of their first fight.
“He was running the whole fight,” Martirosyan said. “How do you stop somebody running, man? He was running the first few rounds, and then he started running the whole fight. I don’t know what he’s talking about, man, stopping me.
“I know he felt me in the first fight, and he’s gonna feel me 10 times more in this fight. That’s how I feel about that. He wasn’t stopping sh*t. I feel like the head-butt was on purpose, the low blows were on purpose. Fight a clean fight, and don’t play with my balls the whole fight, and we’ll see who’s gonna stop who [in] this one.”
Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.