Freddie Roach

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.

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.

This is the final installment of a three-part feature story on the life and career of undefeated Glendale boxing phenom Vanes “The Nightmare” Martirosyan.   The evening of Feb. 7 at the Honda Center in Anaheim was supposed to be a triumphant homecoming for Vanes Martirosyan, a chance to entertain and thank his hometown fans in his first fight back in Southern California in over a year. Since packing up and leaving for Houston in late-2007, Martirosyan had fought mostly around Nevada and hadn’t been on a major Southern California card since his last outing at the Honda Center in January of 2007.

GLENDALE ? In order to reach the next plateau of his career ? a title shot in the light middleweight division ? Vanes ?Nightmare? Martirosyan will have to face some bigger tests this year. Saturday?s 10-round bout against Andrey Tsurkan at Top Rank Promotions? Latin Fury 9, which will be televised live at 6 p.m. on pay-per-view from the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J., certainly qualifies as one of the toughest challenges, if not the greatest yet, the unbeaten Glendale resident has faced in a professional career that began in 2004.

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 — Little more than three months after returning home to Glendale, Vanes Martirosyan is ready to show the world what he and Freddie Roach have been busy working on. The undefeated super welterweight known as “Nightmare” will take on Juan Astorga in a 10-round bout on a Top Rank Promotions card at the Star of the Desert Arena at Buffalo Bill’s Resort and Casino in Primm, Nev. on Saturday. The card, which features four undefeated fighters, will be televised nationally at 7 p.m. PDT by Azteca America.

GLENDALE — The following are odds and ends from the local sports scene .   SATURDAY NIGHT’S A NIGHT FOR FIGHTING Glendale’s own Vanes “Nightmare” Martirosyan will make his return to the ring on Saturday when he takes on Juan Astorga in a co-main event of a Top Rank Boxing card at Buffallo Bill’s Casino in Primm, Nev., right near the California-Nevada border. “Vanes Martirosyan is a very talented young boxer,” stated Top Rank Promoter Bob Arum in a press release.

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.