FRESNO, California – Middleweight Sebastian Terteryan dedicated his first-round knockout in his pro debut this past Saturday to Vanes Martirosyan, a fighter he never met but hoped would be ringside for one of his fights.
Terteryan stopped Chicago’s Dustin Spencer with a right hand to the body that left Spencer in agony on the canvas 28 seconds into the bout at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California.
After the win, Terteryan, 1-0 (1 KO), celebrated by putting on a t-shirt that read “R.I.P. Vanes.” Martirosyan died last month at age 39 due to skin cancer. Terteryan, an Armenian boxer who lives in Denmark but trains in Las Vegas, said his only interaction with the former title contender Martirosyan, who was also Armenian, was following him on social media and sending him a direct message.
“I asked him for advice,” Terteryan, 24, told BoxingScene. “I was surprised that he gave the time and energy to text me on an Instagram DM. He was so humble, and he told me if I needed anything to text him.”
Terteryan was supposed to fight in July when his brother Nikolai Terteryan knocked out Issa Ajilat in the first round in his pro debut. Sebastian was unable to compete on the card due to visa issues that delayed his U.S. debut.
“I asked when I was supposed to fight in July,” Terteryan said. “I told him, ‘If you want to come, I will have a ringside ticket for you.’ He said, ‘I will try to come, but my condition might not allow it.’”
Martirosyan is a former junior middleweight title contender who finished his career with a record of 36-4-1 (21 KOs). He fought the likes of Erislandy Lara, Gennadiy Golovkin, Jermell Charlo, Willie Nelson, Ishe Smith and Demetrius Andrade. Terteryan’s fight came only six days after Martirosyan’s death. Terteryan went to Martirosyan’s funeral on Monday to pay his respects.
“He is a very special person for me – but not only for me, but in general for the Armenian community in America,” Terteryan said. “He was a very kind man, and that is the only thing people said at the funeral – that he was a bigger person outside the ring than he was inside the ring.”
Terteryan said he will remember Martirosyan not only for the fighter he was in the ring but also for his kindness to a young Armenian fighter looking to turn pro. It wasn’t just the shirt Terteryan wore but his entire performance that he meant as tribute to Martirosyan.
“I never met him, but I wanted to,” Terteryan said. “I just had to do what I could do to show the new generation of Armenian boxers and his generation that Vanes is our hero.”
Lucas Ketelle is the author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @BigDogLukie.
