Vanes Martirosyan


Vanes Norikovich Martirosyan was an Armenian-born American professional boxer who competed from 2005 to 2018. He challenged twice for a light middleweight world title in 2013 and 2016, and once for unified middleweight world titles in 2018.
𝕏 VanesBoxing

Early life

Vanes was born on 1 May 1986, in Abovyan, Armenia. Vanes' father, Norik Martirosyan, was an amateur boxer in Armenia who worked for an industrial company and was also in the army. Vanes had two brothers, one older and one younger, and a sister.
His family moved to Glendale, California, when he was four years old. He started boxing when he was seven after his father found out there was a gym in Glendale.
Martirosyan was taken out of junior high school by his father and became home-schooled once it had become clear that he needed to keep his son's fighting confined to the ring.

Amateur career

Martirosyan was an eight-time National Champion and a Golden Gloves Champion.
In 2004, after winning a match against Haiti's Andre Berto in the 1st AIBA American 2004 Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Tijuana, Mexico, Martirosyan secured a spot in the U.S. Olympic Team. He represented the United States at the 2004 Olympics as a Welterweight at age 18. He was on the same Olympic team as Andre Ward and Andre Dirrell.
Results were:
Martitosyan lost in the second round to Aragon Armenteros who was 12 years his senior.
Notable boxers Martirosyan defeated as an amateur include Austin Trout, Andre Berto, and Timothy Bradley.
He finished his amateur career with 120 wins and 10 losses.

Professional career

Early career

At the age of 20, Martirosyan turned professional at 154 pounds with Bob Arum's promotional company Top Rank. Vanes was managed by his uncle, Serge Martirosyan. He was also co-managed by Shelly Finkel, who also manages and advises or has managed and advised world champions such as Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko, Evander Holyfield, and Manny Pacquiao, among others.
Vanes was trained by Freddie Roach, who was voted 2003 and 2006 Trainer of the Year by the Boxing Writers Association of America. He trained alongside Roach's other top students, including Manny Pacquiao and Julio César Chávez, Jr.
Martirosyan also worked with Ronnie Shields, winning his first fight under Shields's tutelage when he knocked out Dan Wallace in one round.
Martirosyan subsequently scored a shutout unanimous decision over Clarence Taylor, and also recorded wins against Billy Lyell, Harrison Cuello, Andrey Tsurkan, and Willie Lee.
Martirosyan made lhis HBO debut on 5 June 2010, at Yankee Stadium on the Miguel Cotto vs. Yuri Foreman undercard. His opponent was fellow undefeated prospect Joe Greene. Martirosyan handed Greene the first loss of his career by way of unanimous decision. With this win Martirosyan, advanced to 28–0 with 17 wins coming by way of knockout.
On 19 March 2011, Vanes made his next appearance in the ring at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec. He got an easy win over Mexican Bladimir Hernandez by way of KO in the second round.
His next fight was against veteran Saúl Román in a WBC semi-final title eliminator for the vacant WBC Silver Light Middleweight Championship. The bout was on 4 June 2011, in HBO's televised portion of the Sebastian Zbik vs. Julio César Chávez Jr. undercard. Román knocked Vanes down in the first round and gave him trouble in the next two. Martirosyan came back in the fourth and fifth. When the seventh round began, Román cornered Vanes against the ropes and landed several blows. Vanes may have caught Román just in time from being stopped. In the same round, Vanes trapped Román against the ropes and knocked him down. After Román got up, Vanes landed a hard right hook on his chin and followed up with a barrage of blows while Román was leaning on the ropes, causing the fight to be stopped and turning what seemed to be a near defeat for Martirosyan into a victory for him.
On 29 October 2011, Vanes fought contender Richard Gutierrez. Vanes dominated from start to finish and won a ten-round unanimous decision. The judges' scorecards were 100–90, 100–90, and 99–91; with Vanes winning all but one round from one judge.
Martirosyan fought veteran Troy Lowry on the Julio César Chávez, Jr. vs. Marco Antonio Rubio undercard. Vanes knocked Lowry down in the first round and stopped him in the third to retain his WBC Silver title.
On 9 November 2013, Martirosyan was defeated in a split decision by Demetrius Andrade who on that day became a winner of the World Boxing Organization title.
On 21 March 2014, he appeared on ESPN's Goossen Tutor Promotions, defeating Mario Antonio Lozano via unanimous decision after 10 rounds in a fight for the vacant WBO Inter-Continental light middleweight title.

Martirosyan vs. Charlo

On 17 February 2015, Showtime announced that Martirosyan would appear on a doubleheader at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas on March 28 against Jermell Charlo. The fight was contested over 10 rounds. Martirosyan lost a contentious unanimous decision. He was considered the more aggressive fighter. The scores were 97–93, 96–94, 96–94. Martirosyan felt he won the fight.

Martirosyan vs. Smith

On 12 September 2015, Martirosyan fought Ishe Smith. Martirosyan outpointed Smith on two of the judges scorecards, 97–91 and 97–91, while the third judge had the fight a draw, 95–95, giving Martirosyan the majority decision victory.

Martirosyan vs. Lara

In his next fight, Martirosyan fought Erislandy Lara for the WBA world super welterweight championship. Martirosyan got outboxed by Lara, and lost the fight via unanimous decision. The scorecards read 116–111, 116–111 and 115–112 in favour of Lara.
Following the loss to Lara, he signed a promotional deal with Don King, however this proved detrimental, as it kept him out of action for two years.

Martirosyan vs. Golovkin

On 5 May 2018, Martirosyan fought unified Middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin at the StubHub Center in Carson, California after he was chosen as the late replacement for Canelo Álvarez when Canelo withdrew from the much anticipated Cinco De Mayo rematch in the wake of his failed drug tests for Clenbuterol. With only three weeks of preparation for the bout and almost two years since his last professional fight, Martirosyan faced long odds against the undefeated middleweight champion. Although he performed better than expected in the opening round of the fight, Martirosyan eventually succumbed to Golovkin's power and suffered a quick defeat via knock out in the 2nd round. 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." For the fight, Golovkin landed 36 of 84 punches thrown and Martirosyan landed 18 of his 73 thrown. Martirosyan received a purse of $225,000 for the fight. The fight averaged 1,249,000 viewers and peaked at 1,361,000 viewers, making most-watched boxing match on cable television in 2018.

Outside of boxing

After the loss to Golovkin, he went through a severe depression episode. In September 2019, Martirosyan was arrested for allegedly assaulting his wife after a verbal altercation. The incident involved Martirosyan reportedly grabbing his wife by the arm and headbutting her, resulting in visible injuries. She managed to escape and was found by police with a bruise and a broken nose; she declined medical assistance. Martirosyan was arrested the following morning and charged with felony domestic violence, later released on $50,000 bail. The pair reconciled and remained together until his death.

Death & tribute

Martirosyan died on 23 November 2025, at the age of 39, following a two-year battle with skin cancer. His long time friend, Roma Kalantaryan, was with him during his final days. He said, “It's incredibly tragic to say that he’s not here with us anymore. He tried everything and even went to Mexico to get treatment, but it was really hard for him over the last six months. Vanes understood that he was running out of time the last time that I saw him."
Martirosyan is survived by his wife, Gaby Tsao, son Andrew, and daughter Arianna.
Middleweight boxer Sebastian Terteryan scored a knockout win in his professional debut against Dustin Spencer and dedicating the victory to Martirosyan. Terteryan recounted how Martirosyan had graciously responded to his request for advice. Despite not having met in person, Terteryan felt a deep connection to Martirosyan, who was a significant figure in the Armenian boxing community.

Professional boxing record

No.ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes
41LossGennady GolovkinKO2, 1:53May 5, 2018StubHub Center, Carson, California, U.S.For WBA (Super), WBC, and IBO middleweight titles
40Loss36–3–1Erislandy LaraUD12May 21, 2016Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Paradise, Nevada, U.S.For WBA and IBO light middleweight titles
39Win36–2–1Ishe Smith10Sep 12, 2015MGM Grand Garden Arena, Paradise, Nevada, U.S.
38Loss35–2–1Jermell CharloUD10Mar 28, 2015Pearl Concert Theater, Paradise, Nevada, U.S.
37Win35–1–1Willie NelsonUD10Oct 4, 2014Foxwoods Resort Casino, Ledyard, Connecticut, U.S.Retained WBO Inter-Continental light middleweight title
36Win34–1–1Mario Alberto LozanoUD10Mar 21, 2014Morongo Casino Resort & Spa, Cabazon, California, U.S.Won vacant WBO Inter-Continental light middleweight title
35Loss33–1–1Demetrius Andrade12Nov 9, 2013American Bank Center, Corpus Christi, Texas, U.S.For vacant WBO light middleweight title
34Win33–0–1Ryan DavisTKO2, 2:01Jun 15, 2013American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas, U.S.
33Draw32–0–1Erislandy Lara9, 0:26Nov 10, 2012Wynn Las Vegas, Paradise, Nevada, U.S.Split TD: Martirosyan cut from an accidental head clash
32Win32–0Troy LowryTKO3, 2:53Feb 4, 2012Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas, U.S.Retained WBC Silver light middleweight title
31Win31–0Richard GutierrezUD10Oct 29, 2011WinStar World Casino, Thackerville, Oklahoma, U.S.
30Win30–0Saúl RománTKO7, 2:58Jun 4, 2011Staples Center, Los Angeles, California, U.S.Won vacant WBC Silver light middleweight title
29Win29–0Bladimir HernandezKO2, 0:57Mar 19, 2011Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
28Win28–0Joe GreeneUD10Jun 5, 2010Yankee Stadium, New York City, U.S.Retained NABF and NABO light middleweight titles;
Won vacant WBA International light middleweight title
27Win27–0Kassim OumaUD10Jan 16, 2010The Joint, Paradise, Nevada, U.S.Retained NABF and NABO light middleweight titles
26Win26–0Willie LeeTKO3, 2:13Dec 19, 2009Beeghly Center, Youngstown, Ohio, U.S.Won NABF and vacant NABO light middleweight titles
25Win25–0Andrey TsurkanRTD6, 3:00Jun 27, 2009Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.
24Win24–0Harrison CuelloTKO1, 2:13May 16, 2009Star of the Desert Arena, Primm, Nevada, U.S.
23Win23–0Billy LyellUD8Feb 7, 2009Honda Center, Anaheim, California, U.S.
22Win22–0Charles HoweTKO1, 1:20Nov 1, 2008Mandalay Bay Events Center, Paradise, Nevada, U.S.
21Win21–0Michael MedinaUD10Sep 19, 2008Star of the Desert Arena, Primm, Nevada, U.S.
20Win20–0Ángel HernándezUD10Jun 26, 2008The Orleans, Paradise, Nevada, U.S.
19Win19–0Michi MunozTKO3, 2:20Feb 7, 2008The Joint, Paradise, Nevada, U.S.
18Win18–0Clarence TaylorUD6Jan 4, 2008Alameda Swap Meet, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
17Win17–0Dan WallaceTKO1, 1:34Dec 20, 2007The Joint, Paradise, Nevada, U.S.
16Win16–0Patrick ThompsonUD6Oct 4, 2007The Joint, Paradise, Nevada, U.S.
15Win15–0Alexis DivisionRTD3, 0:10Aug 30, 2007Grand Plaza Hotel, Houston, Texas, U.S.
14Win14–0Alberto MercedesTKO7, 1:17Jun 29, 2007Cliff Castle Casino Hotel, Camp Verde, Arizona, U.S.
13Win13–0Nelson EstupinanTKO2, 2:59Apr 27, 2007Grand Plaza Hotel, Houston, Texas, U.S.
12Win12–0Taronze WashingtonTKO2, 2:22Jan 27, 2007Honda Center, Anaheim, California, U.S.
11Win11–0Edgar Reyes4, 3:00Nov 18, 2006Thomas & Mack Center, Paradise, Nevada, U.S.
10Win10–0Marcus BrooksUD6Aug 12, 2006Thomas & Mack Center, Paradise, Nevada, U.S.
9Win9–0Oscar GonzalezTKO1, 2:14Jun 3, 2006Thomas & Mack Center, Paradise, Nevada, U.S.
8Win8–0Tefo Seetso3, 0:55Apr 8, 2006Thomas & Mack Center, Paradise, Nevada, U.S.
7Win7–0Juan Pablo Montes de OcaTKO3, 1:21Feb 18, 2006The Aladdin, Paradise, Nevada, U.S.
6Win6–0Abdias CastilloTKO5, 1:45Nov 12, 2005Wynn Las Vegas, Paradise, Nevada, U.S.
5Win5–0Tony MoralesTKO1, 2:37Oct 8, 2005Thomas & Mack Center, Paradise, Nevada, U.S.
4Win4–0Gerardo Cesar PrietoUD6Sep 10, 2005Staples Center, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
3Win3–0Fernando VelaUD4Aug 26, 2005D&I Colonial Ballroom, Houston, Texas, U.S.
2Win2–0Jovanni Rubio1, 2:55May 28, 2005Staples Center, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
1Win1–0Jesse Orta4Apr 8, 2005Fort McDowell Casino, Fountain Hills, Arizona, U.S.