Martirosyan-Roman fight off
GLENDALE — Apparently, the 29th victory of his pro career wasn’t the only thing local light middleweight contender Vanes “Nightmare” Martirosyan picked up in Montreal.
Around the time Martirosyan was stopping Bladimir Hernandez via second-round knockout at the Bell Centre on March 19, he was also coming down with a flu-like illness that so hampered his training over the subsequent days for an April 23 clash with Saul Roman that the fight was postponed earlier this week.
“I couldn’t take a fight where I didn’t feel I was going to be 100%,” said Martirosyan (29-0 with 18 knockouts), who was to have faced Roman (34-8, 29 KOs) in Thackerville, Okla., for the World Boxing Council Silver light middleweight title. “Over there [in Montreal] I started to get sick and after that fight we came [home] and I started throwing up. It started from then, maybe it was the cold, I don’t know what it was.”
Martirosyan said that Top Rank Promotions is working on rescheduling the fight with Roman for June 4 at Staples Center in Los Angeles on the undercard of Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. vs. Sebastian Zbik.
“I hope that I get a fight on the fourth, since this fight didn’t happen,” Martirosyan said.
The Hernandez fight was supposed to be the first stop on a whirlwind comeback tour that would see Martirosyan attempt to tackle two fights in little more than a month after being out of the ring for nearly nine months. Upon returning from Montreal, Martirosyan tried to immediately jump back into his training at the Glendale Fighting Club with proprietor Edmond Tarverdyan, but never got into a rhythm.
“When I came back, Edmond said to take a couple of days off and it just got worse,” Martirosyan said. “My head started spinning and I wasn’t feeling good. We would go to the gym to train and I would just feel really sick. I went to two doctors and they both told me I need to rest.”
Tarverdyan, who cornered Martirosyan in Montreal, said Martirosyan’s camp, which also includes trainer Freddie Roach, who was out of the country until Monday, tried to wait out the illness but inevitably came to the conclusion of postponing the fight.
“We couldn’t get into camp really quick and we can’t push him into training because there’s not much time,” Tarverdyan said. “We decided not to take the fight because if we start off camp hard, you never know, he could get worse. His immune system’s not strong enough yet.”
Martirosyan said that, while disappointed at the setback, he is still looking forward to facing Roman and continuing to pursue a world title shot in 2011.
“It sucks [because] I came back so strong [against Hernandez] and for the next one I was feeling good,” Martirosyan said. “Now I’ve got to go start over again and get back in shape.”