Vanes Martirosyan

Vanes “Nightmare” Martirosyan touched down in Texas on Wednesday, returned to the boxing ring Saturday and five minutes and change of ring time later, he had impressively taken care of business just as many had predicted and he had promised. Martirosyan, ranked fifth in the world by The Ring Magazine, overwhelmed Ryan Davis on Saturday at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, stopping the journeyman via technical knockout at the 2:01 mark of the second round in their super welterweight bout.

When Vanes "Nightmare" Martirosyan signed on to fight Erislandy Lara in early August, he barely waited for the ink to dry on the contract before jumping headlong into training for the Cuban southpaw. Lara seemingly was considerably more deliberate in mulling over the proposition of engaging the Glendale resident in a final eliminator bout for the World Boxing Council junior middleweight title, as he didn't get around to signing on until the past weekend. But sign he did, finally making the biggest fight of Martirosyan's undefeated career a reality.

Vanes Martirosyan was ready to head to Texas looking for a fight. Now the fight will come to him. In a development first publicized on his Twitter feed on Thursday, Martirosyan's upcoming 10-round fight against Ryan Davis (24-9-3, nine knockouts) will no longer be held June 16 at the Sun Bowl in El Paso as originally planned. Instead, Martirosyan (32-0, 20 KOs) will fight on July 7 mere miles from his hometown and current residence of Glendale at the Home Depot Center in Carson on the HBO "Boxing After Dark" undercard of the super bantamweight title unification bout between Nonito Donaire and Jeffrey Mathebula.

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]

With major issues such as time, place and opponent out of the way, two big fights are now set, promising an exciting couple of months to come on the local boxing scene. All the details of undefeated Glendale resident Vanes "Nightmare" Martirosyan's World Boxing Council light middleweight final eliminator bout with Erislandy Lara are ironed out now that the arena (the Wynn Resort in Las Vegas) and date (Nov. 10) have been confirmed. But first, lightweight Art Hovhannisyan, who trains at the Glendale Fighting Club with Edmond Tarverdyan, will try to build on his recent success with an Oct. 27 bout on HBO "Boxing After Dark" at the Turning Stone Casino in Verona, NY that recently came together following an extended search for an opponent.

This is the second of a three-part feature story on the life and career of undefeated Glendale boxing phenom Vanes “The Nightmare” Martirosyan. It will run in consecutive installments. Even as he was enjoying a surprising run against the odds to the Round of 16 in the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Vanes Martirosyan was beginning to sour on the Olympic experience. Miffed at what he saw as a politicized qualifying process of making the U.S. team and further turned off by the Olympic scoring system and the way he was coached during the games, the uplifting story of his Olympic debut had underpinnings of frustration.

sports notebookGlendale boxer, who is 6-0 in pro career, will be on the undercard of upcoming pay-per-view "Real Warriors." GLENDALE -- Odds and ends from the past week in local sports. NIGTHMARE RETURNS Professional boxer Vanes Martirosyan, who goes by the moniker of "Nightmare," will return to the ring soon. The Glendale resident is on the undercard of the "Real Warriors" pay-per-view event, which will feature a bout betweent Antonio Margarito and Manuel Gomez as the main event.

Hamlet Nalbandyan Vanes Martirosyan already did what he set out to do at the 2004 America's Qualifier on Thursday, so Saturday's victory was nothing more than icing on the cake. Already having qualified for the Summer Olympics in Athens, the 17-year-old Glendale resident made his week in Tijuana just that much sweeter by winning the Gold medal in the welterweight division. The 6-foot, 152-pounder, who is a member of the U.S. Boxing National team, defeated Haiti's Andre Berto in a 25-21 four-round decision.

Vanes “Nightmare” Martirosyan touched down in Texas on Wednesday, returned to the boxing ring Saturday and five minutes and change of ring time later, he had impressively taken care of business just as many had predicted and he had promised. Martirosyan, ranked fifth in the world by The Ring Magazine, overwhelmed Ryan Davis on Saturday at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, stopping the journeyman via technical knockout at the 2:01 mark of the second round in their super welterweight bout.

There's an abundance of familiarity surrounding Vanes “The Nightmare” Martirosyan's upcoming bout on Saturday night. Opposing him will be a familiar foe in Ryan Davis, an opponent Martirosyan was previously scheduled to fight a year ago. And once more, Martirosyan finds himself in the familiar spot of competing in a fight that's far from the blockbuster bout he desires. “We want bigger fights,” Martirosyan said. “This is just a fight to keep me busy.” Glendale's Martirosyan will get busy to the tune of a 10-round super welterweight fight against Davis on Saturday night at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

After suffering a deep gash over his left eye in the ring Saturday night, Vanes “Nightmare” Martirosyan will be on the shelf for at least a couple of weeks. The much coveted world title shot the Glendale resident has had his eye on figures to be on ice for considerably longer. Saturday's World Boxing Council light middleweight title eliminator between Martirosyan, the No. 2 contender, and No. 1 Erislandy Lara at the Wynn Resort in Las Vegas ended with an accidental head butt that led to a technical decision draw.

LAS VEGAS — Vanes Martirosyan and Erislandy Lara's rivalry started as a war of words and, unfortunately for the aspirations of both fighters and fans in attendance at the Wynn Resort in Las Vegas Saturday night, the first meeting between the two rising light middleweight stars ended as little more. The anticlimax of the HBO "Boxing After Dark" World Boxing Council light middleweight title eliminator saw both fighters trading insults, barbs and boasts through a microphone, over a chorus of boos, of what they would have done if only the main-event fight had been allowed to run its 12-round course.

Vanes “Nightmare” Martirosyan has been chasing Saul Alvarez for more than a year and a half now. To be precise, he's more after the hardware around Alvarez' waste, as Martirosyan's been hovering near the top of the World Boxing Council light middleweight rankings for much of the time since the 22-year old Mexican sensation known as “Canelo” first became the champion in March 2011. Martirosyan (32-0, 20 knockouts), an unbeaten 26-year-old former Olympian out of Glendale who is the No. 2 WBC contender, will become the mandatory challenger for the WBC belt should he defeat current No. 1 contender Erislandy Lara (17-1-1, 11 KOs)

A strange sound has been emanating from Vanes "Nightmare" Martirosyan's camp over the past weeks - silence. Never one to shy away from talking trash or baiting opponents, the Glendale resident has maintained a decidedly low public profile since his World Boxing Council light middleweight final eliminator bout with Erislandy Lara became a done deal. So what happened to the fighter who had spent months calling out Lara and other top fighters in the 154-pound division, once even promising in an interview to break Lara's ribs and send him to the hospital?

With major issues such as time, place and opponent out of the way, two big fights are now set, promising an exciting couple of months to come on the local boxing scene. All the details of undefeated Glendale resident Vanes "Nightmare" Martirosyan's World Boxing Council light middleweight final eliminator bout with Erislandy Lara are ironed out now that the arena (the Wynn Resort in Las Vegas) and date (Nov. 10) have been confirmed. But first, lightweight Art Hovhannisyan, who trains at the Glendale Fighting Club with Edmond Tarverdyan, will try to build on his recent success with an Oct. 27 bout on HBO "Boxing After Dark" at the Turning Stone Casino in Verona, NY that recently came together following an extended search for an opponent.

When Vanes "Nightmare" Martirosyan signed on to fight Erislandy Lara in early August, he barely waited for the ink to dry on the contract before jumping headlong into training for the Cuban southpaw. Lara seemingly was considerably more deliberate in mulling over the proposition of engaging the Glendale resident in a final eliminator bout for the World Boxing Council junior middleweight title, as he didn't get around to signing on until the past weekend. But sign he did, finally making the biggest fight of Martirosyan's undefeated career a reality.

In the aftermath of the abrupt cancellation of his fight against Ryan Davis Friday night, local junior middleweight contender Vanes "Nightmare" Martirosyan may not be without a next fight for long. And if all goes according to plan, it will be for bigger stakes and against a much more significant opponent than the lightly regarded Davis, who was scratched from Saturday's card at the Home Depot Center after failing to clear a medical evaluation. According to his uncle and manager, Serge Martirosyan, the unbeaten Glendale native is now waiting on a response from Erislandy Lara as to whether Lara will accept the light middleweight final eliminator bout recently ordered by the World Boxing Council.

Vanes "Nightmare" Martirosyan recently predicted his fight with Ryan Davis wouldn't get out of the first few rounds. Turns out it never made it past the weigh-in. The unbeaten light middleweight and Glendale native (32-0, 20 knockouts) said he got the news while on his way to Friday afternoon's weigh-in that the 10-round bout set for the Nonito Donaire-Jeffrey Mathebula undercard tonight at the Home Depot Center in Carson had been called off because Davis (24-9-3, nine KOs)