By Jim Slattengren: Undefeated junior middleweight prospect Vanes Martirosyan (19-0, 13 KOs) destroyed an over-matched Michi Munoz (20-2, 13 KOs) on Thursday night, stopping him in the 3rd round of a scheduled 10-round bout at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Munoz was knocked down three times in the bout, once in the first and twice in the third. After fighting in an abnormally conservative manner in the first two rounds of the fight, Martirosyan, 21, a fighter with extraordinary right hand power, finally unleashed a series of hard right hands in the 3rd, dropping Munoz twice to the canvas, and prompting for referee Kenny Bayless to stop the fight at 2:20 of the 3rd round.
Martirosyan, a former 2004 Olympic welterweight for the United States, considered perhaps the hardest punchers (with right hand) of the junior middleweight prospects, came out slowly against Munoz, 26, in the first round of the fight. The slow start appeared to be design, fo Martirosyan’s new trainer, Ronnie Shields, has been trying to get him to work slower, focusing more on defense due Martirosyan’s tendency to tire out in fights, as well as having defensive involving him dropping his left hand when throwing his right.
In the first round against Munoz, Martirosyan started off sticking to a cautious approach, as he threw a large number of jabs in fist minute of the round. Munoz, meanwhile, did little accept take the shots and look for openings. Muoz finally summoned up the courage and moved into distance, and tried throwing a left hand, which, unfortunately for him, was immediately countered by a short left hand by Martirosyan that knocked Munoz to the canvas. The shot wasn’t that big of a punch, but rather having caught Munoz while he least suspected it, and knocking him down.
After Munoz got up from the canvas, Martirosyan resumed throwing mostly jabs, while mixing in occasional big right hand shots. Munoz was perhaps very fortunate that Martirosyan didn’t go after him, because if Martirosyan was using his old all-out attack style of fighting, the bout very likely have ended in the first round with Martirosyan knocking him out. Instead, the fight dragged on while Martirosyan continued using his new economical style of fighting, one that he didn’t look too comfortable using.
In the 2nd round, Martirosyan began to throw more right hands and left hooks, nailing Munoz with each time he came within range. The right side of Munoz’s eye began to swell, turning red, and a small cut was opened on the corner, most likely a product of one of Martirosyan’s monstrous right hand bombs. In the later part of the round, Martirosyan began to tee-off with big left hooks and right hands. At this point, Martirosyan was starting to look more like his old self, fighting in the style that he used formerly when trained by his former trainer Freddie Roach. Martirosyan looked much better during this part of the round, less mechanical, more fluid and clearly very dangerous judging from the way Munoz was getting pelted.
In the 3rd round, Munoz attempted a left-right combination in the opening seconds of the round, but both were blocked by the gloves of Martirosyan. Following that, Martirosyan landed a big right hand Then, as if following a broken script, he began jabbing at Munoz. A short while later, Martirosyan launched a devastating right hand which Munoz, incredibly, took without going down. However, as if by delayed reaction, he took a knee a second later to clear his head.
As soon as he got up, the action resumed with Martirosyan attacking him with a flurry of shots, ending with four consecutive right hands that sent Munoz down to the canvas for the final time in the fight. Munoz’s nose was bleeding badly, as if it may have been broken by one of Martirosyan’s powerful right hand shots. The referee Kenny Bayless then moved in and put a halt to the massacre at 2:20 of the 3rd round.