Freddie Roach

Grant Gordon Glendale's own Vanes Martirosyan suffered a setback of sorts and it came without even setting foot in a boxing ring. "The Nightmare," as the former Olympic boxer and Glendale resident is known, was set to fight his third professional fight on the undercard of the July 30 "Million-Dollar Lady" pay-per-view card, but it was cancelled earlier this week. Lucia Rijker, the co-star of the film "Million-Dollar Baby" was set to fight in the main event against Kristy Martin.

GLENDALE — Vanes "Nightmare" Martirosyan and "Mean" Joe Greene hail from opposite coasts, but hardly come from different worlds and the two undefeated junior middleweight contenders, both 24, have a lot more in common than meets the eye. Martirosyan, who fights out of Glendale by way of Yerevan, Armenia, and Greene, a Brooklyn, N.Y. native who fights out of Jamaica, Queens, carved out identical paths toward promising professional careers by...

GLENDALE ? When Vanes ?Nightmare? Martirosyan?s scheduled opponent, Juan Astorga, pulled out of Saturday night?s 10-round clash just days before the bout, the Glendale super welterweight prospect didn?t bat an eye. Instead, he simply battered Astorga?s short-notice replacement, Harrison Cuello, for all of 2:13 of the first round before winning via technical knockout at Buffalo Bill?s Resort and Casino in Primm, Nev. to improve his perfect record to 24-0 with his 15th knock- out. ?

GLENDALE — The following are odds and ends from the local sports scene. MARTIROSYAN NEW OWNER OF LOCAL GYM Undefeated junior middleweight boxer Vanes "Nightmare" Martirosyan is days away from leaving for the Philippines to join Manny Pacquiao 's training camp as a sparring partner for the current champ in preparation for his October fight with Antonio Margarito . Paquiao and the 28-0 Martirosyan both train at...

GLENDALE — While moving forward in his ascent of the 154-pound division, super welterweight prospect Vanes “Nightmare” Martirosyan is coming back to the place where his professional career started. In mid-February, the 22-year old former Olympian made the decision to break with Houston-based trainer Ronnie Shields and return to his hometown of Glendale. He has already resumed training with World Boxing Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach at Roach’s Wildcard Boxing Club in Hollywood and could be back in the ring as early as April.

"Vanes is such a hard worker. He's just a baby now, he's only 19, but we're getting there a little bit every day." — Freddie Roach on Vanes Martirosyan after the latter's second pro fight W ithin the bowels of the Staples Center, inside the confines of the Chick Hearn Media Room, Vanes "The Nightmare" Martirosyan stepped onto center stage. Shouldered by trainer Freddie Roach and Top Rank Promoter Lee Samuels, Martirosyan was the centerpiece of a press conference on the undercard of an event headlined by Julio Cesar Chavez as a part of his farewell tour.

GLENDALE —Vanes “The Nightmare” Martirosyan has scored impressive knockouts and dominated opponents with regularity over the last four-plus years, but what the Glendale-based welterweight did to Willie Lee on Saturday night at the Beeghly Center in Youngstown, Ohio came with an extra reward — two of them, to be exact. Martirosyan scored a third-round technical-knockout win over Lee to capture the North American Boxing Federation and North American Boxing Organization super welterweight titles, the first of his professional career, which has seen him amass an unbeaten record of 26-0 with 17 knockouts since debuting in April, 2005.

Rising super welterweight star Vanes Martirosyan incurred his toughest professional test to date on Saturday night, but still prevailed in overwhelming fashion. The Glendale resident and former U.S. Olympian out-boxed and out-punched Gerardo Prieto at Staples Center en route to a unanimous six-round decision. Martirosyan (3-0, 1 KO), a native of Armenia, pitched a shutout on all three scorecards, out-pointing Prieto (4-3-1) by a 60-54 margin on all three ringside judges' accounts.

GLENDALE — According to the game plan publicly laid out by his camp on Thursday, Glendale-based light middleweight Vanes "Nightmare" Martirosyan will go from his longest-ever layoff between fights to the quickest turnaround since the earliest stages of his nearly six-year-old professional career. After facing Bladimir Hernandez in Montreal on March 19, Martirosyan will be right back in action just 35 days later to face Saul Roman for the vacant World Boxing Council Silver light middleweight title in Thackerville, Okla.

GLENDALE — Apparently, the 29th victory of his pro career wasn't the only thing local light middleweight contender Vanes "Nightmare" Martirosyan picked up in Montreal. Around the time Martirosyan was stopping Bladimir Hernandez via second-round knockout at the Bell Centre on March 19, he was also coming down with a flu-like illness that so hampered his training over the subsequent days for an April 23 clash with Saul Roman that the fight was postponed earlier this week. "I couldn't take a fight where I didn't feel I was going to be 100%," said Martirosyan (29-0 with 18 knockouts)

Vanes "Nightmare" Martirosyan's world title chase is in a holding pattern at the moment, which finds him ready to take on his second relatively unknown down-on-their-luck opponent in a row simply in order to avoid ring rust in the event a big fight materializes. Martirosyan (31-0, 19 knockouts) will put his World Boxing Council Silver light middleweight title on the line in a 10-round bout against 41-year old Troy Lowry (28-11, 17 KOs), a man 16 years his senior, as part of the undercard of Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr.'s WBC middleweight title defense against Marco Antonio Rubio on Saturday at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

The following are odds and ends from the local sports scene. NIGHTMARE, GHOST RETURN TO RING Undefeated Glendale boxer Vanes "Nightmare" Martirosyan 's rise to blockbuster fights and title bouts seems to be yet again going slower than hoped for, as Martirosyan is scheduled to fight Troy Lowry on the undercard of an HBO World Championship Boxing event that will feature titlists Julio Cesar Chavez Jr....

MARTIROSYAN COULD FIGHT COTTO With rumors swirling around the boxing world that a much-hyped rematch between Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito could be called off, undefeated Glendale boxer Vanes Martirosyan's name has surfaced as a possible replacement for Margarito, according to multiple boxing websites. "Getting someone to step in and replace Margarito on short notice will be much easier than thought. Two names instantly stand out, those being Vanes Martirosyan and Pawel Wolak . Both are in shape," Jack Hirsch wrote on boxingnewsonline.net.

After starting off the week with a joyous personal milestone - the birth of his first child - Vanes "Nightmare" Martirosyan will look to finish it off with a professional one, his 31st victory in the ring. Martirosyan (30-0, 19 knockouts) and his girlfriend welcomed son Andrew into the world on Monday, five days before he is to face Richard Gutierrez (26-7-1, 16 KOs) in a 10-round light middleweight bout at the WinStar Casino in Thackerville, Okla. tonight. "It's a big week," said Martirosyan, who will be returning to action for the first time in nearly five months.

GLENDALE — Apparently, the 29th victory of his pro career wasn't the only thing local light middleweight contender Vanes "Nightmare" Martirosyan picked up in Montreal. Around the time Martirosyan was stopping Bladimir Hernandez via second-round knockout at the Bell Centre on March 19, he was also coming down with a flu-like illness that so hampered his training over the subsequent days for an April 23 clash with Saul Roman that the fight was postponed earlier this week. "I couldn't take a fight where I didn't feel I was going to be 100%," said Martirosyan (29-0 with 18 knockouts)

GLENDALE — According to the game plan publicly laid out by his camp on Thursday, Glendale-based light middleweight Vanes "Nightmare" Martirosyan will go from his longest-ever layoff between fights to the quickest turnaround since the earliest stages of his nearly six-year-old professional career. After facing Bladimir Hernandez in Montreal on March 19, Martirosyan will be right back in action just 35 days later to face Saul Roman for the vacant World Boxing Council Silver light middleweight title in Thackerville, Okla.

GLENDALE — The following are odds and ends from the local sports scene. MARTIROSYAN NEW OWNER OF LOCAL GYM Undefeated junior middleweight boxer Vanes "Nightmare" Martirosyan is days away from leaving for the Philippines to join Manny Pacquiao 's training camp as a sparring partner for the current champ in preparation for his October fight with Antonio Margarito . Paquiao and the 28-0 Martirosyan both train at...

GLENDALE — Vanes "Nightmare" Martirosyan and "Mean" Joe Greene hail from opposite coasts, but hardly come from different worlds and the two undefeated junior middleweight contenders, both 24, have a lot more in common than meets the eye. Martirosyan, who fights out of Glendale by way of Yerevan, Armenia, and Greene, a Brooklyn, N.Y. native who fights out of Jamaica, Queens, carved out identical paths toward promising professional careers by...

"Vanes is such a hard worker. He's just a baby now, he's only 19, but we're getting there a little bit every day." — Freddie Roach on Vanes Martirosyan after the latter's second pro fight W ithin the bowels of the Staples Center, inside the confines of the Chick Hearn Media Room, Vanes "The Nightmare" Martirosyan stepped onto center stage. Shouldered by trainer Freddie Roach and Top Rank Promoter Lee Samuels, Martirosyan was the centerpiece of a press conference on the undercard of an event headlined by Julio Cesar Chavez as a part of his farewell tour.