By Keith Idec
Vanes Martirosyan remembers feeling awful after returning home following his split-decision defeat to Demetrius Andrade in their fight for the then-vacant WBO junior middleweight title 16 months ago in Corpus Christi, Texas.
The disappointment Martirosyan felt that day has been one of his primary motivators in preparation for his 10-round fight against Jermell Charlo on Saturday night in Las Vegas. Martirosyan (35-1-1, 21 KOs), a 2004 American Olympian from Glendale, Calif., has won both of his bouts since Andrade (21-0, 14 KOs) defeated him and knows a victory over Houston’s Charlo (25-0, 11 KOs) would put him in prime position to fight for a 154-pound championship again.
“This fight is a big fight for me because when I lost to Andrade, I didn’t step into the ring 100 percent,” Martirosyan, 28, said on a conference call Monday. “And when you come home a loser, it’s a bad feeling, man. I can’t look at my wife, my kids. I feel like I let them down. So right now I’m just in that mode where I’d rather die than see that again.”
The Charlo-Martirosyan match will open Showtime’s doubleheader from The Pearl at Palms Resort Casino at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT on Saturday night. Mexico’s Jhonny Gonzalez (57-8, 48 KOs) is scheduled to defend his WBC featherweight title against Gary Russell Jr. (25-1, 14 KOs), of Capitol Heights, Md., in the 12-round main event.
A few hours before this Showtime Championship Boxing broadcast begins, Showtime also will provide live coverage of the IBF welterweight championship bout between British title-holder Kell Brook (33-0, 22 KOs) and Canada’s Jo Jo Dan (34-2, 18 KOs). That telecast is set to start at 6:15 ET/3:15 PT from Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield, England.
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.
