Vanes Martirosyan is an Armenian boxer born in the Soviet Union. He started boxing at age 10 and was a 3-time world champion as an amateur. In 2002, he became Armenia’s first world boxing champion since independence from Russia. Vanes has earned over $10 million dollars throughout his career and currently holds a net worth of $5 million dollars!
In 1986, Vases was born in Abovyan, Armenia. Among his responsibilities in an industrial company, Norik Martirosyan also served in the Armenian army and was also an amateur boxer. The younger brother is closer in age to Vanes, while the older brother is farther away.
During his childhood, his family moved from Glendale, California to Los Angeles. His father introduced him to boxing when he was seven after he found out Glendale had a gym.
Once it became clear that his father would have to confine his son’s fighting to the ring, Martirosyan was taken out of junior high school by his father and became a homeschooler.
Vanes Martirosyan: Amateur Career
Besides being an eight-time national champion, Martirosyan was also a Golden Gloves champion.
The 2004 AIBA American 2004 Olympic Qualifying Tournament held in Tijuana, Mexico, resulted in Martirosyan’s selection for the US Olympic Team after he defeated Haiti’s Andre Berto. He was a representative of the United States at the 2004 Olympics. Andre Ward and Andre Dirrell were teammates on the Olympic team.
Final Results:
Defeated Benamar Meskine (Algeria) 45–20
Lost to Lorenzo Aragon Armenteros (Cuba) 11–20
A few of the notable amateur boxers Martirosyan defeated included Austin Trout (twice), Andre Berto, and Timothy Bradley.
He had 120 victories and 10 losses during his amateur career. Except for Lorenzo Aragon, all losses were avenged in rematches.
Professional Career
Martirosyan became a professional at 154 pounds when he was 20 years old with Bob Arum’s promotional company Top Rank. Serge Martirosyan managed Vanes, his nephew. Shelly Finkel is also his manager, and she has spoken with world champions like Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko, Evander Holyfield, Manny Pacquiao, among others.
Freddie Roach trained Vanes. The Boxing Writers Association of America named him Trainer of the Year in 2003 and 2006. His training includes sessions with Manny Pacquiao, Julio César Chávez, Jr., and other top students under Roach.
Under the tutelage of Ronnie Shields, Martirosyan defeated Dan Wallace in one round in his first fight.
In his following fights, Martirosyan defeated Clarence Taylor in a unanimous decision, and he also beat Billy Lyell (who defeated John Duddy later that night), Harrison Cuello, Andrey Tsurkan and Willie Lee.
On June 5, 2010, Martirosyan was to make his HBO debut at Yankee Stadium on the undercard of Miguel Cotto vs. Yuri Foreman. He challenged fellow undefeated prospect Joe Greene (22-0, 14 KOs). Greene suffered his first career loss at the hands of Martirosyan. By winning this match Martirosyan improved to 28-0 with 17 knockouts.
At the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Vanes made his next appearance in the ring on March 19, 2011. A second-round KO gave him the win over Mexican Bladimir Hernandez.
During his next fight, Rose fought veteran Sal Román in a WBC Silver Light Middleweight semi-final title eliminator. A portion of the Julio César Chávez, Jr. vs. Sebastian Zbik undercard featured the bout on HBO on June 4, 2011. Vanes struggled in the next two rounds after being knocked down by Romeán. The fifth and fourth periods were Martirosyan’s. Vanes was cornered against the ropes by Román when the seventh round got under way. Venes could have caught Roman just in time for him to be stopped. Román was knocked down by Vanes after he was trapped against the ropes. Upon rising from the floor, Vanes landed a hard right hook to the chin of Román followed by a barrage of blows while Román leaned on the ropes, stopping the fight and turning a near-defeat into a victory.
A fight between Vanes and Gutierrez took place on October 29, 2011. Throughout the ten-round fight, Venes dominated and won unanimously. Vanes won all but one round out of three judges’ scores of 100-90, 100-90, and 99-91.
On the undercard of Julio César Chávez, Jr. vs. Marco Antonio Rubio, Martirosyan fought veteran Troy Lowry. The WBC Silver title was retained by Vases based on knocking Lowry down in the first round and stopping him in the third.
Demetrius Andrade won the World Boxing Organization title on that day after defeating Martirosyan on a split decision on November 9, 2013.
After ten rounds, he defeated Mario Antonio Lozano via unanimous decision on ESPN’s Goossen Tutor Promotions show.
Martirosyan will face Jermell Charlo (25-0) on March 28 at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas in a doubleheader on Showtime’s website on February 17, 2015. A unanimous decision resulted in Martirosyan’s loss. Results or the rounds were 97–93, 96–94, and 96–94. The fight was viewed as a win by Martirosyan.
Martirosyan fought Ishe Smith on September 12, 2015. Three judges awarded Martirosyan a majority decision victory, two of them scoring the fight 97-91 for Martirosyan, and the third one scoring it 95-95 for Smith.
Martirosyan next matched up with Erislandy Lara for the WBA super welterweight title. By unanimous decision, Martirosyan lost to Lara after being outboxed. According to the scorecards, Lara won 116-111, 116-111 and 115-112.
During the May 5th rematch with Gennady Golovkin, Martirosyan fought at the StubHub Center in Carson, California after Alberto lvarez withdrew due to failed drug tests due to Clenbuterol. The undefeated middleweight champion, who hadn’t fought in almost two years, faced long odds against the fighter who had only been training for three weeks. Martirosyan, who went into the fight with high expectations, was eventually knocked out by Golovkin due to his power in the second round despite a better than expected opening round performance. 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.”
Golovkin landed 36 of the 84 punches he threw (43%) and Martirosyan landed 18 out of the 73 punches he threw (25%) for the fight. For the fight, Martirosyan earned $225,000. Golovkin said in the post-fight interview that he felt like he had been hit by a train after the fight with 1,249,000 viewers on average and 1,361,000 viewers at its peak.
