By Eric Thomas: Unbeaten junior middleweight contender Vanes Martirosyan (29-0, 18 KO’s) will be taking on Mexican Saul Roman (34-8, 29 KO’s) for the vacant World Boxing Council (WBC) Silver light middleweight title on June 4th at Staples Center, in Los Angeles, California.
This is a fight that was supposed to have taken place on April 23rd of this month but the 24-year-old Martirosyan came up ill with a case of the flu while training and had to take time out to get better.
Martirosyan, ranked #4 IBF, #4 WBC, #1 WBO, is coming off of an impressive 2nd round TKO of Bladimir Hernandez in March. That fight was a step down in competition from Martirosyan’s lopsided 10 round unanimous decision win over Joe Greene last year in June.
The way that Martirosyan so easily handled Greene seemed to suggest that Martirosyan was ready for a title shot against one of the champions. Indeed, Martirosyan has been trying to get a fight against WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto but he hasn’t had any luck getting Cotto into the ring.
It’s unfortunate but Martirosyan is going to have to keep winning until the champions are literally forced to fight him. With his number #1 ranking by the WBO, Martirosyan is in the perfect position to get a shot against champion Sergiy Dzinziruk.
That is a fight that would be interesting to see. However, Martirosyan has to get by the 30-year-old Roman first before he can think title shots. It’s good to know that Roman has lost three out of his last five bouts. But he did recently stop a tough Michael Medina by a 2nd round TKO in his last bout in January.
Roman has some power that Martirosyan is going to have to be wary of. He can’t just walk through this guy like he’s done with many of his opponents. If Roman lands something big, Martirosyan could find himself starting from scratch with his career. He can’t afford that.
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