‘Nightmare’ leads off huge month of fights
GLENDALE — The following are odds and ends from the local sports scene.
SIX LOCALS SET FOR JUNE BOUTS
Vanes “The Nightmare” Martirosyan will not only be squaring off with “Mean” Joe Greene in the biggest fight of his young career on Saturday night, but the Glendale boxer will also begin quite a stretch of local boxers and mixed martial artists taking to their respective rings and cages.
Martirosyan (27-0, 16-0 KOs) will face Greene (24-0, 13 KOs) live on HBO with the broadcast beginning at 7:15 p.m.
As it relates to local fighters, the month will close on June 20 with MMA fighter Karen Darabedyan (9-2) facing Will Kerr (8-2) at World Extreme Cagefighting’s first event in Canada. The card will air live on Versus at 6 p.m., but Darabedyan’s fight is currently scheduled for the unaired prelims, but could make air pending on the duration of the main card fights.
In between, MMA fighter Roman Mitichyan and boxer Artur Bernetsyan are part of a hybrid card on June 12 at the Hollywood Palladium put on by MEZ Sports.
And, tentatively scheduled, Art Hovhannesyan will box on June 18 in St. Louis against an as-of-yet undetermined opponent just six days after Vardan Gasparyan is set to box in St. Louis.
NCAA LOCALS ON THE TUBE
Softball players Baillie Kirker of the University of Arizona and Kathryn Poet of Missouri, along with baseball player Christian Bergman of UC Irvine, are all slated for NCAA tournament action this week.
On Thursday, Poet and the Tigers (51-11) will lead off the Women’s College World Series with a game against Hawaii (49-14) that will air live on ESPN and ESPN3.com at 1 p.m.
Kirker and Arizona (48-11) will take on Tennessee (47-13) later in the day with a scheduled 7 p.m. start. That contest is to be televised on ESPN2 and can also be seen on ESPN3.com.
Bergman and Irvine will begin play in the NCAA baseball tournament at the Los Angeles Regional against LSU (40-20) at 5 p.m. on Friday. The series, which continues through the weekend with an if-necessary game on Monday, is not set to be televised. However, UC Irvine’s home web site — www.ucirvinesports.com — offers a game tracker option.
REBELS EARN LEAGUE HONORS
Three members of the Flintridge Prep boys’ tennis squad were named to the All-Prep League team.
Seniors Jonathan Kim and John Lee were named to the all-league first team in doubles. The duo combined to go 37-8 overall and 15-3 in league en route to helping the Rebels appear in the CIF Southern Section Division II playoffs. Kim and Lee also participated in the CIF Individual Tournament on May 21.
“They did real well and realized they played their best together,” Flintridge Prep second-year Coach Ron Catano said. “The chemistry was there between the two and they committed themselves to find ways to win.”
Junior Alex Wood earned all-league second-team honors in singles.
Wood went 34-7 overall and 14-4 in league.
“He’s just picked up a lot of experience these last couple of years,” Catano said. “He worked on his game and raised his game to the next level and he can be one of the top players in league next year.”
MINAS TABBED AS ALL-STAR
Crescenta Valley High junior guard Melanie Minas has been named to the East roster for the 2010 War on the Floor/Future Stars Class of 2011 All-Star Game.
The game will be played on at 4 p.m. June 12 at Los Angeles Pierce College in Woodland Hills.
Minas, who averaged 6.9 points per game in the winter for the Falcons, who advanced to the CIF Southern Section Division I-A quarterfinals, will be joined on the East team by fellow area athletes Lisha Elsenbach of Burroughs and Layana White of Bell-Jeff.