Vanes Martirosyan has an opportunity of a lifetime against Gennady Golovkin
When junior middleweight Vanes Martirosyan turned pro at age 18 following an appearance for Team USA in the 2004 Olympics, many regarded him as a prospect to watch and a surefire bet to win a world title.
Fourteen years later and, although Martirosyan became a solid contender, he never lived up to his potential, never became a star and never scored a major victory.
The two times he did fight for a 154-pound world title he lost decisions, to Demetrius Andrade for a vacant belt in 2013 and, in a rematch of a head-butt induced technical draw, to then-titlist Erislandy Lara in May 2016. That is the last time Martirosyan fought.
But Martirosyan has a chance to change the trajectory of his life and career, not to mention quiet the critics, if he can score what would be an astronomical upset against unified middleweight world champion Gennady Golovkin, who is bidding for a division record-tying 20th consecutive defense, on Saturday (HBO, 11 p.m. ET/PT) at the StubHub Center in Carson, California.
"I have been counted out before and I have shined," Martirosyan said. "This is my time. Fate has reached out to me and I am ready to seize the moment. You can never plan for something like this, but you can be prepared, and that's why I never left the gym.
"I've got this opportunity to shock the world. I'm not fighting a robot. GGG is human and he is beatable."
Ultimately, Loeffler and Golovkin (37-0-1, 33 KOs), 36, a Kazakhstan native fighting out of Santa Monica, California, settled on Martirosyan as the late substitute. He was available, had been training and, as a bonus, he had moved from Armenia, where he was born, to Glendale, California, where there is a large Armenian community that is expected to turn out to support him.
Just a few weeks before he got the fight, Martirosyan said he asked his wife who her favorite boxer was beside him.
