Lara vs Martirosyan: The Type of Fight Vanes Needs
By Chris Robinson
Vanes Martirosyan is a likeable guy. Speaking with the talented Armenian fighter at the end of last month, I was able to take in many facets of his childhood, early fighting days and time at Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Boxing Club in Los Angeles. What has always been on display about the 24-year old is his extreme willingness to face any and all comers near 154 pounds as the names of Cotto, Mosley, Angulo, Cintron and countless others have came out of his mouth in recent months.
While an ambitious nature is always a necessity for those competing in the sport of boxing, perhaps Martirosyan’s wishes are a bit premature. While his 28-0 record with 17 knockouts looks great on paper, a closer look shows that he could be far better off fighting another prospect near his weight class to give us an accurate gauge of where he stands at the moment.
On January 16th, of this year Martirosyan found himself in a firefight with Uganda’s Kassim Ouma at the Hard Rock in Las Vegas. Despite starting strong Martirosyan would be bothered by the former champion’s pressure over the second half of the fight and even suffered a knockdown in the 9th round before pulling out a shaky unanimous decision. It was the type of performance that will make Martirosyan better in the long run, but one that also showed he has a little ways to go before fully competing on the world class level.
Just recently Cuban standout and blossoming professional Erislandy Lara again took to calling out Martirosyan and when assessing the matchup between the two undefeated pugilists - it is a fight that makes complete sense. Lara’s 13-0 record with 8 early outs may look modest at first glance but he has a wealth of amateur experience to fall back on. His convincing victories over hardened veterans Grady Brewer and Danny Perez earlier this year show that Lara is the type of fighter who can swim in deep waters and he seems poised for a breakout.
Lara is next scheduled to see action on November 27th on the undercard of the HBO tripleheader at the MGM Grand, headlined by the lightweight bout between Juan Manuel Marquez and Michael Katsidis. Martirosyan is scheduled to see action in the month of December. If both men are successful as they should be, a meeting between them early next year has the makings of a gem.
Lara is strong southpaw with a compact and fundamental attack and has shown that he isn’t afraid of scrapping in closed quarters. Martirosyan has great range himself and does his best work when fighting at a distance and ripping his opponents with shots to the head and body. If pitted against one another, something would have to give and somebody’s undefeated record would surely be marred.
You can’t blame Vanes for wanting to fight the world’s best fighters right now. Guided by Freddie Roach and training alongside world class talents such as Manny Pacquiao and Amir Khan has surely rubbed off on him, and he is a talented kid. But before he takes that next big step I think a fight with Lara with provide us all the answers we are looking for in him and would also make for a fine co-feature to an HBO or Showtime event.
Chris Robinson is based out of Las Vegas, Nevada. An archive of his work can be found here, and he can be reached at Trimond@aol.com