Martirosyan pummels Lowry

In a fight he couldn't lose, Vanes "Nightmare" Martirosyan seemed to know he couldn't win.

Anything less than a prompt annihilation of 41-year old club fighter Troy Lowry on Saturday night at the Alamodome in San Antonio would have been an embarrassment to the World Boxing Council Silver light middleweight champion. But soon after had he dispatched the overmatched Lowry at the end of three one-sided rounds, Martirosyan sounded embarrassed that the match was ever made.

"I'm tired of guys, these bums that I've been fighting," said Martirosyan (32-0 with 20 knockouts), who floored Lowry (27-12, 17 KOs) in the first and third rounds of the title defense, while battering him with measured punches throughout. "They're not bums, they're fighters, but they're not on my level and I'm tired of fighting guys like this."

Martirosyan forced Lowry to a knee with a four-punch combo in the first round and knocked the punch-drunk Lowry sprawling into the lower ropes at ringside to effect a stoppage at the 2:53 mark of the third after stalking him around the ring and leveling shots at will.

Martirosyan said his handlers at Top Rank Promotions put him against Lowry to keep him busy in the absence of a big fight on the horizon. But the pairing will likely only intensify criticism that Top Rank has overprotected the former Olympian, as Lowry clearly had no business in the ring with a fighter who is ranked the No. 1 contender for the WBC title.

Martirosyan has been slated to face the winner of the upcoming bout between James Kirkland and Carlos Molina in a final eliminator for a shot a WBC champion Saul Alvarez, a proposal Martirosyan claims he has had verbal assurance of from a WBC official.

"I think it's time to fight people who are on my level," Martirosyan said. "People say they're champions on paper and it's time for me to step up. I'm ready to step up and it's time for them to step up and fight me."