Will Face Saul Roman TONIGHT!

Vanes Martirosyan (29-0, 18 KOs) is looking to get his thirtieth victory as a professional prizefighter when he takes on Saul Roman (34-8, 29 KOs) TONIGHT, June 4 at the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles.

The unbeaten junior middleweight will be featured in the undercard of the Sebastian Zbik vs. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. WBC Middleweight title bout promoted by Top Rank in association with Zanfer Promotions, airing on HBO’s “Boxing After Dark” (BAD).

I recently visited Team Martirosyan at the Glendale Fighting Club (GFC) for a media workout showcasing the young boxer, nicknamed “The Nightmare,” as he looked forward to his clash against the Culiacán-born Roman. The two will be vying for the vacant WBC Silver Light Middleweight belt. Vanes has already claimed NABF, WBO NABO, and WBA titles and hopes to add a green WBC strap to his championship cache.

Walking into the state-of-the-art training facility, I said “Barev” (hello in Armenian) to the fighters and trainers there including trainers Edmond Tarverdyan, George Bastrmajyan, manager Steven Feder, super featherweight Gabriel “Gapo” Tolmajyan (who just last night slugged it out in a “Fight of the Night” battle in Woodland Hills), Gerasim “Thunder” Ohanyan, conditioning coach “Silver” with Hye Fighters represented, among others.

Vanes, who is trained by Freddie Roach and also has been working with conditioning coach Mike Vale, worked the mitts with co-trainer Edmond Tarverdyan on this day. Looking lean and ready, the lanky slugger and his team are confident for tonight. “This will be a good fight, he’s training hard and he’s much faster than his foe,” the camp told me.

GFC’s Edmond, himself, is also a martial arts expert and a champion in the disciplines of Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Muay Thai, Wushu, Kung Fu and other combat sports. I notice a mural on the wall of the GFC gym; it is a painted likeness of WBC Muay Thai champ Tarverdyan with the inspirational message of, “Nothing is Impossible.” And their motivation for tonight is a convincing solid victory for their talented pupil.

“Any fight prediction?” I ask Team Martirosyan.

The consensus is that their young pugilist will stop the Mexican challenger in later rounds. “The Nightmare’s” last fight was a second-round KO win over Bladimir Hernandez in March of this year. During his career, the puncher has also claimed victories against Joe Greene, Kassim Ouma, Andrey Tsurkan, among others.

As Edmond was wrapping Vanes’ hands, I asked the 2004 U.S. Olympian what it will mean to him if he adds another belt to his collection, this time a new WBC “Silver” belt.

“It’s not only the belt; it’s everything to me!” he replied. “The belt is the best appreciation, the victory means a lot to me–but to have that belt around me would be a great honor to represent.”

“He’s doing a great job. And we’re not looking past this fight; we’re taking Saul Roman very seriously,” his manager Steven Feder told me as we watched the tattooed Vanes workout up in the ring. “For us, it’s not just about winning the fight it’s how he wins the fight too. We want to put on a great show for the fans.

“Vanes is focused and he’s had some great sparring with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. We’re looking forward to the fight and we’ll let the performance speak for itself.”

This is a busy time Feder and his Standing Eight Management. Besides Martirosyan, Steve also has two other fighters with big bouts ahead of him with cruiserweight Lateef Kayode on June 10 and lightweight Jamie Kavanagh on June 23 .

And he also plans to keep his young Armenian champ busy this year. “With Top Rank, you will see a lot of Vanes this year,” Feder tells me. “This will be his year!”

At this week’s final press conference Top Rank’s Bob Arum introduced Vanes as “The Pride of Glendale.”

While at the podium, the humble Southern California fighter kept is short and sweet.

“I am happy to be fighting in his hometown and I will come out with a big victory,” the popular Armenian told the large crowd.

Tonight Vanes Martirosyan will be aiming to add #30 to his perfect record.

It’s safe to say the town of Glendale will all be rooting for him.

Vanes Martirosyan vs. Saul Roman
(On undercard of Zbik vs. Chavez Jr.)
Saturday, June 4
Staples Center
Tickets: 800-745-3000

Photos by Michele Chong