Vanes Martirosyan returns to ring against Ryan Davis

There’s an abundance of familiarity surrounding Vanes “The Nightmare” Martirosyan’s upcoming bout on Saturday night.

Opposing him will be a familiar foe in Ryan Davis, an opponent Martirosyan was previously scheduled to fight a year ago.

And once more, Martirosyan finds himself in the familiar spot of competing in a fight that’s far from the blockbuster bout he desires.

“We want bigger fights,” Martirosyan said. “This is just a fight to keep me busy.”

Glendale’s Martirosyan will get busy to the tune of a 10-round super welterweight fight against Davis on Saturday night at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. The bout will be on the untelevised undercard of an “HBO After Dark” event headlined by featherweights Mikey Garcia and Juan Manuel Lopez doing battle.

Perhaps the most important aspect for the 27-year-old Martirosyan (32-0-1, 20 knockouts) is that he will finally get back into the ring after a seven-month layoff largely due to injuries.

“I just want to get in the ring and get back to work,” Martirosyan said. “After that, it’s on to bigger and better things.”

Despite the layoff, Martirosyan, who trains at the Wild Card Boxing Club under Freddie Roach and the Main Event Gym in Glendale under Roma Kalantaryan, is brimming with confidence facing Davis (24-10-3, nine KOs).

“I’m confident in every fight,” said Martirosyan, who’s ranked fifth in the division by The Ring magazine. “I already know I’m gonna win, it’s just [a question of] how I’m gonna win.”

Davis, 34, has lost two of his last three fights — both by stoppage — and has been knocked out four times in his career. An eye injury forced a cancellation to Davis’ bout with Martirosyan on July 6. Since then, Davis has fought once and was promptly knocked out in the fourth round by Jorge Melendez on March 2.

However, Kalantaryan said nobody is looking past Davis.

“It’s just another fight,” Kalantaryan said. “Every fight is important.

“It doesn’t matter who we fight, it’s just another fight, that’s how we look at it. [Fight] No. [34], that’s how we see it.”

Martirosyan is looking to bounce back from the first blemish on his record as he fought Erislandy Lara to a ninth-round technical draw after Lara cut Martirosyan with a head butt on Nov. 10, 2012. The bout, a World Boxing Council light middleweight title eliminator, was arguably Martirosyan’s highest-profile fight yet. However, the HBO main event was largely panned for a lack of action, Lara’s style making for an awkward fight and the disastrously inconclusive ending.

After healing up the cut over his left eye, Martirosyan was then scheduled to fight in China on April 6 against Javier Francisco Maciel (24-2), but Martirosyan broke his thumb.

But his camp said he’s ready to go.

“He looks sharp in training,” Kalantaryan said.

Martirosyan weighed in Friday at 154.75 pounds, well under the 156-pound limit, while Davis missed weight at 157.5.

“I feel good, we trained hard,” Martirosyan said. “I just want to get it over with and get back home.

“After that, it’s on to bigger and better things.”

Martirosyan’s bout and other prelims can be seen at www.toprank.com.