By Ian S Palmer
Vanes Martirosyan takes on Willie Nelson in a junior middleweight contest this Saturday, October 4 at the Foxwoods Resort in Mashantucket, Connecticut. The 10-round fight will be aired by the Showtime network in America and on Super Channel in Canada. Martirosyan is a former U.S. Olympian who is hoping to earn his way to another world title shot. He fought Champion Demetrius Andrade last November and was beaten by a split decision. Since the loss to Andrade, Martirosyan, who was born in Armenia, bounced back with an easy unanimous decision win over Mario Alberto Lozano in March.
Nelson hails from Cleveland, Ohio is considered to be a decent contender who hasn’t really lived up to his potential as of yet. If he’s ever going to make a name for himself and earn a title shot he’s going to have to beat the likes of Martirosyan. That’s quite a tall order though since Martirosyan has a very awkward style that often borders on the ugly. Nelson’s last contest was a 10-round unanimous decision over UD 10 Luis Grajeda in August.
The 28-year-old Martirosyan will enter the ring with an impressive 34-1-1 record along with 21 Kos. The 27-year-old Nelson is 23-1-1 and has 13 Kos to his name. His only loss came at the hands of Martirosyan has fought 182 rounds since turning pro back in 2005 while Nelson turned pro in 2006 and has gone 109 rounds. Nelson has a huge reach advantage of eight inches with an 81-inch reach compared to Martirosyan’s wingspan of 73 inches. In addition, Nelson’s 6-feet-3-inches tall while Martirosyan stands 6-feet.
Martirosyan can be a lot to handle when he’s in top form as Erislandy Lara found out in their nine-round technical draw in 2012. He’s got a unique and awkward style which can make it hard to look good against. Nelson’s got pretty good boxing skills, but he’s inconsistent. Some of the blame for that can go to a series of injuries he’s picked up over the years including elbow surgery last year. This is a step up in class for him and he needs to bring his A game if he’s going to be successful.
Martirosyan may be unorthodox, but he’s still got some boxing skills along with a solid chin, decent speed and good power. His best weapons are his jab and right hand. He moves around a lot in the ring, making him a difficult target to hit cleanly. However, with his superior reach, Wilson may be able to land from a distance if he chooses, but he prefers to fight on the inside. Martirosyan will have to keep his hands moving more than usual in this fight while Nelson needs to use his size and reach to advantage.
Prediction
Martirosyan’s quite smart in the ring while Nelson sometimes seems to lose his way and focus. Nelson will need to be the aggressor and keep Martirosyan on the back foot as much as he possibly can. This could be a bit of an ugly fight and it may also be hard to score. There’s a good chance it will go the distance unless one of them gets sloppy and makes a huge mistake. We shouldn’t rule out a draw as this one could be very close, but if Martirosyan fights to his potential he should be able to pull out a close decision.
