Professional boxer, Glendale resident Vanes Martirosyan back in ring, out of title hunt

Vanes Martirosyan's next opponent was unveiled recently, but once again it was who the Glendale-based light middleweight isn't going to fight that has dominated story lines.

Martirosyan has agreed to fight Ryan Davis, but only after his camp turned down a proposed World Boxing Council light middleweight title eliminator bout in early May against Erislandy Lara that effectively ends Martirosyan's protracted pursuit of a world title through the WBC for the foreseeable future.

"It's frustrating because we were OK with the Lara fight, it's just that [the WBC doesn't] want to put it on paper that it's a final eliminator," said Martirosyan (32-0, 20 knockouts), the former WBC No. 1 contender, who is currently ranked third by the WBC and has been seeking a title shot against WBC champion Saul "Canelo" Alvarez. "We already fought a couple of eliminators. ...We felt like they're just playing games.

"I don't think they ever want to have me fight Canelo."

Instead, Martirosyan will need to find another title to set his sights on, but in the meantime the clash with Davis (24-9, nine KOs) is currently scheduled for the undercard of the Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr.-Andy Lee WBC middleweight title match on June 16 at the Sun Bowl in El Paso.

Martirosyan's uncle and manager Serge Martirosyan, who had tried unsuccessfully to get Martirosyan into the ring against Chavez, Jr. on June 16, said talks with Top Rank Promotions are still underway to possibly move the fight with Davis to the undercard of the Nonito Donaire-Jeffrey Mathebula bout on July 7 at the Home Depot Center in Carson.

"We didn't have any other choice," Serge Martirosyan said of why Martirosyan is fighting Davis. "The main reason [we turned down Lara] was because [the WBC] wouldn't sign any binders that would say the winner of that fight would fight Canelo. They were not going up on the money and they were not giving us any kind of a binder. I told them either there should be a binder with the money they are offering us or give us more money with no binder. They are doing everything they can to protect Canelo."

The Lara (16-1-1, 11 KOs) proposal was not the first eliminator Martirosyan was required to successfully pass in order to get a WBC title shot, nor was it the first he turned down.